What happens when Cristiano Ronaldo goes up against an almost unbeatable robot goalie? Mark Rober builds an incredibly fast robotic goalkeeper designed to track a football, predict where it’s going and move into position before the shot reaches the goal.
After months of engineering, testing, failures and upgrades, there’s only one way to find out how good the machine really is: put it in front of one of the greatest football players of all time.
Building an Almost Unbeatable Robot Goalie
Stopping a powerful penalty kick requires an incredibly fast reaction, so Mark Rober approaches the problem like an engineer rather than a football player.
The system uses high-speed cameras to track the ball hundreds of times per second. That information allows the machine to calculate the ball’s trajectory and rapidly move the goalkeeper into its predicted path.
Building the robot goalie isn’t easy. Early tests expose problems with strength, accuracy and durability, forcing Mark and his team to reinforce the machine and make it even faster.
Eventually, the machine is taken to Portugal for the ultimate test: standing between Cristiano Ronaldo and the back of the net.
Why We Loved This Video
This is a brilliant combination of engineering and world-class sport. The technology is fascinating on its own, but putting it up against Ronaldo turns the experiment into something completely different.
Watching the machine react almost instantly to powerful shots makes it easy to appreciate just how much engineering went into the project.
And when one of football’s greatest players starts looking for a way to beat the machine, the final challenge becomes incredibly entertaining.
