robotics

A fully automated Robot capable of playing Badminton

Students and professors at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China have developed a robot that can play badminton as well any amateur. The robot uses a combination of cameras, motion sensors, and a unique navigation system to sweep through Chinese robotics competitions while racking up the wins.

The Robomintoner, as its inventors call it, was fittingly created through the spirit of competition. The UESTC team was tasked with creating a badminton-playing bot for the Asia-Pacific Robocon 2015, where robots would face off against each other in doubles matches. “We were the only team who made this robot fully-automated. We are in the business of making clever devices. We might as well make it fully intelligent,” said Huang Xi, student from University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, at the time.

The robot has become something of celebrity in China, an occurrence known to happen from time to time.  It has played ceremonial matches against Dong Jiong, an Olympic medal winning badminton player. Recently, it took on table tennis champion Wang Liqin. Although out of his comfort zone, Liqin said he was “amazed” at the robot’s speed and ability.

With two high-definition cameras acting as its eyes, the Robomintoner tracks the shuttlecock—the badminton equivalent of a ball. It projects a trajectory and then sends that information to a mobile platform through Bluetooth, which then guides the robot’s physical motion. This is crucial because, as mechatronics professor from UETSC Luo Deyuan notes, “currently there’s no perfect system in the world for a robot to locate itself indoors.”

Robots that can win at chess and Go often win the big headlines with their dynamic ability to learn, while the jock robots playing sports might seem like more like one-trick ponies. But speaking about the robot after seeing it at work, table tennis player Liqin remarked that it might not be long before robots start replacing practice partners for elite-level athletes. Considering how the UETSC teams plans on marketing and selling Robomintoners as soon as possible, the jock bots could quickly become the practice norm.

– Gizmodo