Behold: The Battle of the Bats
Lo and behold, the arena of ping-pong hath become the battleground for modern tech firms to flaunt their robotic creations. A tale oft told of the Japanese firm Omron, whose ping-pong robot didst captivate the masses with its ability to hold court with a human player, showcasing the firm’s prowess in sensor and control technology.
As the winds of artificial intelligence (AI) blow stronger with each passing day, we now bear witness to even more advanced robotic ping-pong players, poised to challenge even the most skilled human opponents. Take heed of this remarkable creation from the engineers at Google DeepMind. In a tome entitled “Achieving Human Level Competitive Robot Table Tennis,” the team hath birthed a “solidly amateur human-level player” coupling AI with an industrial robotic arm — a bat clasped in its mechanical grip.
A visage (above) reveals the AI-powered automaton making swift judgments to execute an assortment of backhand and forehand shots. Of note, it dost return shots imbued with a touch of spin, showcasing an uncanny ability to decipher the ball’s rotations and adjust its strikes accordingly. Yon robot doth also contend with balls of varied speed hurtling towards it from all corners of the table, even those launched from great heights after a mighty bounce. Verily, it doth inspire awe.
“The quest for human-level agility and aptitude in real-world tasks remain the lodestar for the robotics research community,” proclaimed the scribes in their parchment. “This labor brings us closer to that hallowed aim, unveiling the premiere learned robot agent that attains amateur human-level performance in the fierce realm of competitive table tennis.”
In a series of rigorous duels, the robot emerged victorious in all contests against those new to the art, yet its performance against intermediate players hovered at 55%. Alas, it suffered defeat in all encounters with advanced adversaries, though managing to secure triumph in 45% of the 29 battles waged.
