Members of the FRC have been involved in the design and building of an experimental soccer- ball kicking robot for a large sports-shoe company in order to perform unbiased and repeatable experiments to improve upon shoe and soccer-ball designs. The leg was designed to approximate as close as possible the human kinematics and dynamics during the action of kicking a soccer ball. The purpose was to provide a consistent test-bed to remove the statistical variance associated with human testing and thus provide objective comparison criteria to judge and drive the design of new soccer-shoe prototypes. In addition, the developed system has the advantage of providing a highly visible, high-tech demonstration and show-piece for the sports-shoe company
during trade-shows, press conferences and tournaments.