What is it?

FoozBot was a robot designed to play foosball (or table soccer) vs. a human opponent.  It used a top down camera with high speed vision algorithms, artificial intelligence, and a set of 8 motors to beat people.

What did you do?

We retrofitted a foosball table - the robot was attached directly to one side and could not leave.  A boom arm with our camera was placed over the top of the table so it could see the ball.  A sophisticated vision system was set up to track the ball and calculate its trajectory.

What was the result?

We won the award for best AI/Robotics project at EOH 2003.  By 2004, it was fielding balls, but never played a full game.  The hardware had serious issues due to cost cutting measures we took in order to get it built at all, and by year two many parts were failing.  Sadly, Foozbot was retired into the graduate student lounge as a regular foosball table.

Can I learn more?

Sadly, I only have a single picture of FoozBot.  I’m looking for more, as well as the GIF of the ball tracking.  If you have these, please contact me (yes, I’m looking at you, Clayton).