I wanted to dismiss Sony’s table tennis robot as another expensive lab flex. A machine that can rally against elite players is impressive, sure, but it also sounds like the kind of demo built to make executives clap in a room where everyone already agreed to be impressed.
But table tennis is a nastier test than it looks. The ball is small, fast, spinning, and rude enough to change direction the moment it hits the table. Sony’s system faces something less forgiving than calculation. It has to see, predict, and act before the point is gone.
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Sony tested Ace against five elite players and two professionals under official competition rules, and the robot came away with several wins.
SonyThe more useful detail is what it had to handle during those matches: fast, high-spin shots that change direction after
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