Teams from around the world participated in the fifth annual RoboCup competition in Seattle, the first time the event has been held in the US. Four classes of robots, including modified Aibo entertainment robots, competed in soccer matches. The event also featured demonstrations of humanoid robots and autonomous search-and-rescue systems confronted with an earthquake scenario.

Sony Corp., Silicon Graphics Inc., The American Association for Artificial Intelligence and Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science sponsored the competition.