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The Robot World Cup Soccer Games and Conferences (RoboCup) are a series of competitions and events designed to promote the full integration of AI and robotics research. Following the first RoboCup, held in Nagoya, Japan, in 1997, RoboCup-98 was held in Paris from 2-9 July, overlapping with the real World Cup soccer competition. RoboCup-98 included competitions in three leagues: (1) the simulation league, (2) the real robot small-size league, and (3) the real robot middle-size league. It was organized by University of Paris-VI and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and was sponsored by Sony Corporation, NAMCO Limited, and SUNX Limited, with official balls for the middle-size league supplied by Molten Corporation. Over 15,000 people watched the games, and over 120 international media (such as CNN, ABC, NHK, and TV-Aich) and prominent scientific magazines covered the competition.