RoboCup is an annual international robotics competition proposed and founded in 1996 by a group of university professors. The aim of the competition is to promote robotics and AI (Artificial intelligence) research by offering a publicly appealing, but formidable challenge.

The name RoboCup is a contraction of the competition's full name, "Robot Soccer World Cup", but there are many other areas of competition such as "RoboCupRescue", "RoboCup@Home" and "RoboCupJunior".

The official goal of the project: "By the middle of the 21st century, a team of fully autonomous humanoid robot soccer players shall win a soccer game, complying with the official rules of FIFA (French: Fédération Internationale de Football Association, English: International Federation of Association Football), against the winner of the most recent World Cup."

Each team is fully autonomous in all RoboCup leagues. Once the game starts, the only input from any human is from the referee.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org