Sunday

Awake, pack, and check-out; we'll spend our last night in China in
Shanghai, nearer the airport. Drop Julian off in a taxi as he wants to
see the final competitions of his league, and go on to the railway
station to grab some tickets for later. When we get back to the Hall
the activity has focussed on the small number of matches remaining. I
watch the small wheeled robots for a while - they are fast and
furious. There is such a crowd around the AIBOs and the NOAs (i.e., 4
and 2 legged, ready built bodies) that I can't see what is going on,
and have to rely on the shouts of the spectactors instead. In the
simulation area the final competitions are being played; then the
winning teams (plus almost anybody else) line up for photographs that
they will take home as happy memories.

In the end we made 8th place in the 2D football league, 11th place in
3D football, and 7th in robot rescue. Not up with the medals, but I
am extremely proud of what Julian and Jie achieved; they beat
many teams who had far greater resources of both money and man-power,
and all in the first time that Oxford has appeared in these
Championships. We certainly feel that we have made our mark on this
competition, and we are already starting to think how we can do better
at next year's event in Austria. (We just have to find the
sponsorship first.)

We say our goodbyes, and get to the station for our train. We have to
stand all the way to Shanghai, but that's only an hour, and we meet
many of the more ordinary Chinese in the process who are witout
exception extremely friendly. After a
shower at our hotel we go out for dinner with one of the Japanese
teams. I'll be heading home in the morning, while Jie and Julian are
going on to Japan to visit various universities first.