DailyDirt: Badminton Robots FTW

We have computers that can beat us at games like chess and Go (and Jeopardy!), but we haven't seen too many robots that can beat humans at more physical sports like soccer or tennis. We've seen some air hockey robots that are nearly unbeatable, so it's really only a matter of time before robots learn how to play sports with a few more dimensions. Here are some badminton robots that are inching toward playing better than some of us.

• Badminton robots are getting better slowly. This robot has binocular vision from two cameras and was built by students at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. However, it cheats a little bit by using two rackets....
• Just last year, Dong Jiong (a retired badminton professional) played against a couple of these badminton robots on a regulation court. The robots didn't play very well, but they actually played -- and presumably, upgrades will give them superhuman badminton skills someday.
• Badminton robots from the Flanders' Mechatronics Technology Centre (FMTC) in Belgium were relatively primitive 2013. However, the developers were learning about optimizing the efficiency of robots -- not actually trying to create a robot that could beat people at badminton.

After you've finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story