The field of robotics, and more especially humanoid robotics, has several established competitions with research oriented goals in mind. Challenging the robots in a handful of tasks, these competitions provide a way to gauge the state of the art in robotic design, as well as an indicator for how far we are from reaching human performance. The most notable competitions are RoboCup, which has the long-term goal of competing against a real human team in 2050, and the FIRA HuroCup league, in which humanoid robots have to perform tasks based on actual Olympic events. Having robots compete against humans under the same rules is a challenging goal, and, we believe that it is in the sport of archery that humanoid robots have the most potential to achieve it in the near future. In this work, we perform a first step in this direction. We present a humanoid robot that is capable of gripping, drawing and shooting a recurve bow at a target 10 meters away with considerable accuracy. Additionally, we show that it is also capable of shooting distances of over 50 meters.

This annual gathering sees robotics experts from all over the planet fielding teams of battling soccerbots in a bid for robot football supremacy. In this CNET special feature, we take you inside the tournament, revealing the goals, dives and cutting-edge technology deployed in this quirky footie-fest. This year's tournament took place in Leipzig, Germany, where robots across both humanoid and non-humanoid leagues went head-to-head. Meet the Australian team out to defend their title, see why a change to the regulation ball has scores of robots baffled, and enjoy the sight of extremely adorable robots falling over -- then hopping right back up again. Hit play on the video above to check it out, and see more videos from RoboCup below. The pace of artificial intelligence is relentless, so it's not surprising that robot competitors are frequently retired from the game.

This annual gathering sees robotics experts from all over the planet fielding teams of battling soccerbots in a bid for robot football supremacy. In this CNET special feature, we take you inside the tournament, revealing the goals, dives and cutting-edge technology deployed in this quirky footie-fest. This year's tournament took place in Leipzig, Germany, where robots across both humanoid and non-humanoid leagues went head-to-head. Meet the Australian team out to defend their title, see why a change to the regulation ball has scores of robots baffled, and enjoy the sight of extremely adorable robots falling over -- then hopping right back up again. Hit play on the video above to check it out, and check back later in the week for more videos.