On Wednesday, Sony announced its project Ace, an autonomous robot capable of competing with professional table tennis players. Sony says this breakthrough demonstrates that AI systems have achieved human-like, expert-level performance in a competitive sport in the physical world.
While the world is currently focused on the agentic AI craze — allowing AI agents to perform tasks on your behalf — physical AI is right on its heels. Having a humanoid robot fold your laundry is just the beginning, and Sony’s announcement shows that physical AI could outperform humans in some instances.
“Table tennis is a game of enormous complexity that requires split-second decisions as well as speed and power,” said Peter Dürr, director of Sony AI and project lead for Ace, in the press release.
Ace uses advanced sensory technology, reinforcement learning and precision hardware to play table tennis. The robot has nine active pixel-sensor cameras, so it can determine
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