THE IRISH football team may have performed abysmally in the European Championships, but their robotic counterparts did much better.

RoboEireann, a team of five assembled by the engineering department of NUI Maynooth, finished second in the German open last month, the biggest tournament in Europe. Each robot costs between €4,000 and €5,000 to build.

Dozens of schoolchildren and onlookers turned up for a demonstration in the university to coincide with the European Championships.

However,because of the absence of Science Foundation Ireland funding, they are unable to compete in the world championships next month. They are looking for a new sponsor for their team.

Each team consists of four robots. The rules are similar to football, but the robots must operate independently of human control.

Dr Rudi Villing, team coach and lecturer in the NUI Maynooth electronic engineering department, said there was a serious point to robotic football, as a fun way of presenting advances in robotic technology to the public.

“Essentially robotic football is a vehicle to solving the underlying autonomous robotic problems in a way that is entertaining to the public, engaging for students and provides a nice environment to test these problems,” he said.