Meet the football playing robot that’s ‘better than Messi’: Watch as the full-sized bot sprints, jumps and walks just like a real human

A football playing robot is to compete in an international tournament later this year – and experts say ‘she’ is better than Lionel Messi.

The 4ft 8in humanoid, named Artemis, can walk and jump, and is among the only three robots across the globe with the ability to run.

Researchers from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) refer to Artemis as an anagram for ‘A Robot That Exceeds Messi In Soccer’.

Dennis Hong, director at the Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory said: ‘We’re very excited to take Artemis out for field testing here at UCLA and we see this as an opportunity to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics to a much wider audience.’

The human-sized robot will show off its football skills as a contender at France’s RoboCup23 in July.

A football playing robot is to compete in an international tournament later this year as experts joke ‘she’ is better than Lionel Messi

The experts clocked Artemis walking at a record-breaking speed of 2.1 m/s during tests and have since been taking it on walks around the university campus as part of preparation efforts.

RoboCup23 will see 2,500 competitors representing 45 countries gather to take part in a number of football-related challenges.

Robots of all different sizes can take part in its various leagues, with a ‘small-size’ league designed for five inch-high bots and a humanoid league for those as tall as children, teenagers and adults.

The cup’s inventor, Hiroaki Kitano, proposed almost 30 years ago that robots would be able to play on the field with humans by 2050.

Artemis’ football abilities will be tested more vigorously in the coming weeks in addition to its ability to get up from the ground and carry objects.

Dr Hong claims the 85Ibs robot is a ‘first-of-its-kind’, using technology to make it behave as though it has ‘springy’ biological muscles instead of a rigid parts like other robots.

The experts clocked Artemis walking at a record-breaking speed of 2.1 m/s during tests and have since been taking it on walks around the university campus

Artemis’ football abilities will be tested more vigorously in the coming weeks in addition to its ability to get up from the ground and carry objects

Artemis follows a number of other UCLA-developed robots including fire-fighting Saffir made in 2014 and Thor designed for disaster relief. Five-foot-tall Thor triumphed at the RoboCup in 2015 also up against more than 400 teams

Robots of all different sizes can take part in its various leagues at the RoboCup (pictured 2015)

‘That is the key behind its excellent balance while walking on uneven terrain and its ability to run — getting both feet off the ground while in motion,’ he added.

Artemis follows a number of other UCLA-developed robots including fire-fighting Saffir made in 2014 and Thor designed for disaster relief.

Five-foot-tall Thor triumphed at the RoboCup in 2015 also up against more than 400 teams.

The researchers’ current robot was part funded by 232 donors who contributed $118,000 in a crowdfunding campaign, while other support also came from a Naval Research grant.