Jennifer is our new autonomous hockey-playing robot. The related video in the videos section of this site has been submitted to the DARWIN-OP Humanoid Application Challenge, at IEEE ICRA in St. Paul in May. The challenges of humanoid hockey over soccer include balancing on skates on a slippery surface, Manipulating a puck with a stick as opposed to the robot's feet (i.e. arm and leg motions), and making shots oriented from the side as opposed to the front from the standpoint of perception. There are also interesting issues in keeping equipment operational at low temperatures. Jennifer is named after Jennifer Botterill, the Canadian three-time Olympic gold medal hockey player.

Thanks for all the cool mentions in tech blogs on this, including IEEE Spectrum, Engadget, ITWorld, Science News Blog, Tecca, and Geek.com. A nod also to Total Pro Sports and Yahoo Sports - it's not often we cross over the pro sporting side of the media.

Edit: we had a few direct media contacts today, but it seems to have been picked up by the Post, the Star, and the Montreal Gazette, via The Manitoban.  Thanks for scoopin' em on this!