On November 30th, a group of around 35 Young ASML members had the opportunity to visit the ASML Falcons Robocup team in their facilities in Locht near the ASML Veldhoven campus.
The evening started off with drinks and pizzas and continued with a nice presentation about the Falcons Robocup team. The technology behind the robots were explained and how the robots with built-in cameras and sensors can navigate the field and be able to locate the soccer ball as well as their opponents. It was also pointed out that there are various leagues of autonomous soccer playing robots available to compete in. The Falcons team competes in the Mid-Size League (MSL) and consists of a number of enthusiastic ASML employees who meet up on average two evenings per week to improve and further develop the hardware as well as the software involved in the robots.
After the presentation, a demo match between ASML Falcons and Team VDL was organized. In which, you could see the robots playing in autonomous mode and demonstrating their soccer skills such as, kick-off, passing the ball around and scoring goals. At half time Falcons were 5-1 up against their super-fast opponents. The fun evening came to an end with a chance for the participants to ask further questions and get to know the Falcons team and learn a bit more in detail about the various disciplines involved in this sport.