RoboCup chose to use soccer as a central topic of research, aiming at innovations to be applied for socially significant problems and industries.
One major application of RoboCup technologies is search and rescue in large scale disaster situations. RoboCup initiated RoboCupRescue project to specifically promote research in socially significant issues.
RoboCup@Home focuses on real-world applications and human-machine interaction with autonomous robots. The aim is to foster the development of useful robotic applications that can assist humans in everyday life.
RoboCupJunior is targeted at primary and secondary school students, providing consistent challenges from year to year and emphasizing the sharing of ideas in a friendly learning environment.
Beside the regular RoboCup leagues there are demonstrations. The demonstrations show new ideas and concepts for future robotics competitions and research fields.