Sony AI Robot Defeats Table Tennis Players, Makes It to Nature Journal
From Kazakh International News Agency: According to Kyodo News, a team from "Sony AI," engaged in AI research and development, announced the creation of an AI-powered table tennis robot. After real-match confrontations with top human players, the robot emerged victorious in multiple games. Although still not at the level of professional athletes, it demonstrated high performance capable of handling complex shots such as spin balls. The achievement was published in the British scientific journal Nature on the 22nd.
The robot is an autonomous machine named "Ace," featuring a mechanical arm with eight joints. It perceives the high-speed movement of the ball through multiple cameras positioned around the table, using AI to control its actions.
The matches were conducted according to International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) rules. The robot faced five strong opponents with over ten years of competitive experience, defeating three of them. Although it lost against two active professional players, it managed to win one out of two matches under a best-of-five format where the first to win three sets claims victory.
Table tennis features extremely fast-paced gameplay, requiring precise prediction of complex ball trajectories including spin—making it highly challenging for robots. Previous studies had tested performance by using equipment that reduced spin and speed.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1863369323050052/
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