RoboCup World Cup 2025: Bremen secures victory once more with B-Human's triumphant win
In a historic victory, Team B-Human from the University of Bremen and the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) has secured its 12th world championship title at the RoboCup World Cup 2025, held in Salvador, Brazil. This triumph marks a significant milestone for the team, as it was their first win on the American continent, breaking a streak of second and third places in previous tournaments held in Mexico City (2012), João Pessoa (2014), and Montreal (2018).
The RoboCup World Cup, an annual, worldwide, and prestigious robot competition organised by the non-profit RoboCup Federation, has been taking place annually since 1997. This year's event was particularly special as B-Human not only won the championship but also emerged victorious in the technical competition for shooting rolling balls and innovations for the future of the league.
The victory in 2025 marked the end of the Standard Platform League, as RoboCup will introduce a new competition for humanoid soccer robots that will use different robot models starting from 2026. B-Human has expressed its intention to participate in this upcoming competition.
The future of robot soccer is leaning towards more advanced autonomous humanoid robots, as demonstrated by a milestone tournament held in June 2025 in Beijing, where Chinese university teams competed in a completely autonomous humanoid robot soccer event. Although B-Human did not compete in this tournament, it underscores the direction in which the RoboCup is moving.
The B-Human team, consisting of students from the University of Bremen, Dr. Thomas Röfer from DFKI's Cyber-Physical Systems, and Dr. Tim Laue from the University of Bremen, has been a consistent contender in the RoboCup, with this being their 16th participation in the World Cup. Teams in the RoboCup typically come from universities, research institutions, and occasionally from industry.
The RoboCup competition encompasses disciplines beyond soccer, such as RoboCupRescue and RoboCup@Home, which challenge robots to simulate rescue scenarios and perform household tasks, respectively. The Standard Platform League, in which B-Human has been participating, focuses on clever software development rather than hardware differences.
The goal of the RoboCup is to promote the development of robots and their artificial intelligence, enabling them to operate without direct human control. By participating in and winning the RoboCup World Cup, Team B-Human continues to contribute significantly to this mission.
[1] (Source for the achievements and future competitions information) [2] (Source for the Beijing tournament information) [3] (Source for the context information)
The RoboCup World Cup victory by Team B-Human in 2025 was not only a testament to their soccer skills but also their expertise in artificial-intelligence, as they emerged victorious in the technical competition for shooting rolling balls and innovations. As the RoboCup transitions to a new competition for humanoid soccer robots in 2026, Team B-Human, with its strong background in technology and artificial-intelligence, has expressed its intention to participate.
