The Runswift lads - a team of engineering students from the University of New South Wales - head into the ultra-competitive tournament as hot favourites after pulling off back-to-back victories in 2014 and 2015.

All 24 teams from 15 nations will field 58cm tall Nao bipedal robots, with it all coming down to the programming.

Runswift are maestros when it comes to the field of autonomous robotics and Aussie team leader Hayden Smith is confident they have the goods to recapture the world championship at the Nagoya International Exhibition Hall.

Last year a series of technical glitches saw the UNSW fall to a team from the University of Texas. This time the team from Down Under will having to adapt to artificial turf after years of preparation on green carpet. Germany have emerged as the main contenders.

"We've only played against robots in Australia, so we as a team haven't faced international opponents before, so we can't be certain what we will face in Japan," the Computer Science Honours graduate told Xinhua.

Smith added: "Every year, we select the (robot) names based on a theme around science fiction or popular culture. In previous years, we had used names from Star Wars and similar movies, however, the majority of those characters are male."

This time they've been inspired by Pokémon with Eevee, Mew, Abra, Pikachu, Rapidash and Dittoalso among those taking to the pitch.

"It keeps the robots gender neutral, and I think that is important in acknowledging that women also play an important role in science and technology." 

With the ultimate goal to advance the cause of artificial intelligence - and defeat human World Cup champions in 2050 - winning teams are required to share their software coding with the other participants.

The tournament kicks-off on July 27.