Pedro Lima, a faculty member at DEEC and President of the Institute for Systems and Robotics (ISR-Lisboa), has been elected President of the RoboCup Federation (RCF), the international organization, currently headquartered in the United States, that oversees RoboCup. The election took place on 3 July in Incheon, South Korea, during RoboCup2026.

The RoboCup Federation is regarded as the world's most prestigious international organization for robotics and artificial intelligence competitions. It was previously led by Hiroaki Kitano, Minoru Asada, Peter Stone and Manuela Veloso. For Pedro Lima, the significance of this election extends beyond personal recognition.

Beyond its personal significance for me, I believe that Técnico and Portugal should be proud that their impact within such a prestigious organization has been strong enough for a Portuguese researcher to be chosen to lead it.

Pedro Lima, DEEC faculty member and President of ISR-Lisboa

His new mandate encompasses not only the management of the RCF—including its financial affairs and the organization of events—but also defining the strategic direction of RoboCup competitions as research competitions that foster advances in artificial intelligence and robotics.

Each year, RoboCup brings together around 4,000 participants from across the globe, in addition to numerous regional events, including the Portuguese RoboCup Open (National Robotics Festival). According to Pedro Lima, "the greatest challenge will be leading the future and meeting the expectations of a community of tens of thousands of participants worldwide." At the same time, he believes that this new role will allow him to "help shape new ideas and new challenges with international impact in the fields of AI and Robotics."

I receive this distinction with great pride and satisfaction because a large part of my career as a professor and researcher has revolved around robotics competitions, and RoboCup in particular, in which I have participated since 1998.

Pedro Lima, DEEC faculty member and President of ISR-Lisboa

That same year, the SocRob (Society of Robots) project, developed at ISR-Lisboa, gave rise to the SoccerRobots team, which competed in the Soccer MiddleSize League. Pedro Lima highlights the importance of this initiative for Técnico and for the Portuguese robotics community: "More than 150 master's and PhD students have been part of the SocRob team over the years, along with colleagues and postdoctoral researchers," he says.

According to Pedro Lima, beyond serving as a centre of excellence in research and inspiring younger generations to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), RoboCup stands out for the ambitious goal it set in 1997: to develop, by 2050, a team of robots capable of defeating the FIFA World Cup champion national football team.

In his view, this is a far more complex challenge than the milestone achieved when a computer defeated the world chess champion. "Here, we are talking about physical AI, where systems interact with the real world. Football serves as a metaphor for a wide range of challenges in this field," he explains.

Pedro Lima believes that recent advances in machine learning have given robotics "a major boost." Nevertheless, he stresses that significant challenges remain.

Object manipulation, the locomotion of humanoid and quadruped robots across uneven terrain, natural interaction with humans, and the resilience of robots operating autonomously, among others, remain open challenges.

Pedro Lima, DEEC faculty member and President of ISR-Lisboa

Growing international interest in humanoid robotics has been demonstrated, among other factors, by the recent sponsorship of RoboCup competitions by some of China's largest robotics companies. During the 2026 edition, held in Incheon, the first-ever official 11-a-side humanoid robot football match also took place.

Pedro Lima served as RCF Vice-President between 2023 and 2025 and previously held several leadership positions within the Federation, including Chair of the Middle Size League in 2001 and member of the Executive Committee. In this new phase, he will serve as President-Elect for one year before assuming the presidency of the organization for a three-year term, beginning at the end of June during RoboCup 2027, which will be held in Nuremberg, Germany.

* Story by Técnico in collaboration with the Institute for Systems and Robotics (ISR-Lisboa)

Photo: Técnico