Former All Blacks ace Andrew Mehrtens proved he was a goal kicking machine today.

Mehrtens proved he had nerves of steel, out-kicking two custom-built robotic legs and tying with a third leg in a man versus machine challenge at Auckland's Victoria Park.

The event, part of a Rugby World Cup innovation showcase, had Mehrtens in a four-way competition against a robotic leg built at Massey University Albany, another from their sister campus in Palmerston North and a third from Canterbury University.

The former Crusaders player and the robotic legs, attached to mannequins, had alternative kicks at goal - doing both place and drop kicks - at different angels and distances until a winner was found.

Canterbury University's robot was eliminated first despite showing good drop-kicking form, followed by Massey's Palmerston North robot which struggled with both accuracy and distance.

A draw was declared after both Mehrtens and Massey's Albany robot missed the posts during an attempt from the left-hand sideline.

But it seems no one told Mehrtens that.

"I think they're being nice to the robots... But I guess I'm just happy I didn't strain anything," he said.

"I will be claiming victory. They might be big and strong, but once it's over the posts they weren't able to collect the ball or enjoy the accolades from the crowd. They couldn't throw the (ball) tee back to the ball boy either."

Mehrtens said the robots had a "mixed bag" of kicks, but given they were "technically only born a few months ago" were impressive in both the force and accuracy of their strikes.

Despite that, Mehrtens said none put their best foot forward to replace injured All Black Colin Slade.

"Hopefully we don't need one... (Aaron) Cruden played pretty well... But I'd still like to see Slade get a chance," he said.

"We've got three quality options at first five. No one is going to be the same as (Dan) Carter and they won't be for some time. But these guys could walk on to most teams anywhere in the world."

Massey's Mechatronics lecturer Associate Professor Johan Potgieter was pleased with his robots performance.

''It just shows it can be done, '' he said.

''But we'd much rather see a rugby player running out onto the field rather than a team of robots.''

Mehrtens said if injury rates continued robots might get their chance to shine on the world stage.

"It could well take off in 50 years or so if too many injuries keep happening."

Potgieter said Massey's robotic leg was based on a man with 95 percentile optimal physical health and was powered by pneumatic hoses which are controlled by a programmable logic controller.

He said the challenge of making the solid aluminium leg centred on getting the anatomy and movement accurate through kinematic design and computerised modelling.

The kicking contest was a warm-up to the inaugural Robotics World Cup which starts at The Cloud tomorrow.

That event will involve university and high school teams from around the world designing, building and maintaining machines that compete in a game of speed, strategy, and skill.

The robotic legs will now go on display at The Cloud.

Manawatu Evening Standard
10 October 2011