Apparently our robotic overlords will be armed with.. rackets.
From playing chess to routing world champions at Go, it appears that robots and AI are plotting their global takeover via the sporting route. And the latest game to see its first robotic entrant is badminton.
Nicknamed ‘Robomintoner’, it was created by students and teachers at the University of Electronic Science and Tech, China, and is purportedly the only such robot of its kind.
It uses an HD camera and a binocular vision system--just as humans and so many other animals do--to ‘see’ the flying shuttlecock its opponent lobs at it. The robot conveys the position and direction of the shuttlecock wirelessly to a base station via Bluetooth, which determines where the shuttlecock is likely to land. Armed with this trajectory information, the robot swiftly moves to that location, setting itself up to strike the shuttlecock using a regular badminton racket (two, actually,) attached to its actuating arms.
At its heart is the robot’s indoor navigation system that has been designed to be accurate up to millimeters. “Currently there is no perfect system in the world for a robot to locate itself indoors. The technology used in the Robomintoner is actually very advanced. No matter how it moves on the court, as long as it’s got battery it will know its exact location. It won’t lose its direction; it won’t lose itself.” says Luo Deyuan, Mechatronics Professor of the University of Electronic Science and Tech, told China Central Television.
The system isn’t perfect as yet--there are times when the robot appears to get flummoxed. But it certainly appears to be a step in the right direction.
The creators aim to release the machine into the market within a month, although no price has been revealed.
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 "‘Robomintoner’ Badminton robot")
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