While many hoped that the UK’s robot football team will outdo its human version(s), because let’s face it – they could hardly do any worse, it once again ended badly as the electronic sportsmen got knocked out already in the group phase.

Dr Subramanian Ramamoorthy said that Edinburgh University’s four-robot team will come back with an improved side. Apparently, the team’s loss is down to lack of fine tuning that would result from having a national RoboCup tournament. Ramamoorthy said:“Almost all the bugs that stopped us were because we were not match ready".

Organizer of the RoboCup Dr. Cetin Mericli said that the event came to be after chess grand master Garry Kasparov lost against IBM’s Deep Blue. He did not mention that Kasparov "lost" to the team of cheaters behind it, but that’s beside the point.

Dr. Mericli pointed out that making a good robot football team and the accompanying problem solving will be an important task for when they become part of our lives. He added:"We want to create robots that are intelligent enough to take care of themselves and to take care of anyone around them so they can be part of our lives".

Unfortunately, we’re not sure teaching them to think as footballers will help the human race much, as it’s only a matter of time before they start shagging everything that walks on two cogs. (Not to worry, someone will come up with a robotic Victoria Beckham sooner or later. sub.ed.)