At least 24 teams from 11 countries, including Germany, Turkey, China, Singapore and South Korea, have competed with local teams for the 2018 robotics football cup in Tehran, Iran.

The 13th RoboCup Iran Open included a number of robotic football leagues, as well as teams focused on rescue and de-mining simulations, home applications and unmanned aerial vehicle operation.

A team from Leipzig University of Applied Sciences won in the football standard league championship, while a team from Iran’s Qazvin Islamic Azad University won the overall trophy by winning in seven categories.

RoboCup is an international research and education initiative that researches artificial intelligence and its utility for future applications while fostering interest among young students in robotics.

At the opening of the event last week, Sourena Sattari, Iran’s vice president for science and technology, called for an overhaul in policy to help young robotics experts find jobs and outlets for their work.

“The policies in the field of industry should be changed so that more robotic systems created by the young generation to be used in industry,” he said.