The World's First AI Serving Robot Was Born, and the National Ball Has Reached a New Level of Training

Recently, the world's first intelligent table tennis serving robot was born. This robot will assist in table tennis teaching. In addition to serving, it also has the ability to analyze movement trajectories and movements, making training data-based and intelligent.

Recently, the world's first artificial intelligence robot table tennis serving machine, Pong bot, was born at the China Table Tennis Academy in Shanghai.

This serving robot is not simple. According to one user, after a set of training, "it feels like playing against a real person, and a real master at that!"

China Table Tennis Academy: Leading the trend of table tennis with technology

The robot was jointly developed by the China Table Tennis Academy and Shanghai Siasun Robot & Automation Co., Ltd.

The China Table Tennis Academy was established on September 17, 2010. It is jointly built and managed by the State General Administration of Sport and the Shanghai Municipal People's Government. Shi Zhihao, the former head coach of the Chinese women's table tennis team, serves as the dean.This is the only institution of higher learning in the world that specializes in table tennis.

The college focuses on undergraduate education, not only cultivating outstanding athletes and coaches, but also is committed to promoting table tennis culture around the world.

Therefore, the college has been pursuing innovation in recent years. In the era of artificial intelligence, it has quickly seized this cutting-edge technology and combined it with table tennis.Dean Shi Zhihao expressed the hope that this could lead the development trend of world table tennis.

The serving robot released this time came into being under this vision.

This robot can not only reproduce the natural serving action and hit balls with different landing points and rotations, but also arbitrarily combine the serving rhythm to help athletes conduct targeted strengthening training.

In the future, this table tennis robot will also be introduced into communities, schools, gyms, etc. to promote the popularization of table tennis.

CCTV Sports Channel reported this on July 14

Smart training: serving and action analysis

It is reported that this AI table tennis multi-ball training robot Pombert,It is the world's first robot that can serve with a racket in hand.

Pombert has two robotic arms, one for throwing the ball and one for hitting it.Restore the real person's serving action.You can also simulate different playing styles by quickly changing the racket.

Not only does the hardware use "anthropomorphism" to make it closer to humans, but the R&D team also gives it analytical capabilities in software.Modules such as motion trajectory analysis and action analysis have been added to it.

Pangbot can be connected to the mobile phone app, and then the rotation level, speed level and landing point can be set on the mobile phone, covering the entire serve trajectory, and realizing personalized customization of training programs. In this way, the trainee can input the training plan formulated by the coach into the program and then execute the training.

Its artificial intelligence algorithm can analyze the trajectory of table tennis balls and capture the postures of players.Then give feedback instructions to optimize the player's playing posture.

At the same time, the algorithm will also intelligently adjust the difficulty of the course according to the athlete's performance. The training data will be synchronized to the cloud and can be displayed in real time on various terminals, making it easier for coaches and players to understand their own strengths.

Free the coach's hands and greatly improve training efficiency

The use of serving robots in assisting table tennis teaching has brought many benefits to the teaching and training of the national ball.

In the past table tennis classes, coaches needed to conduct multi-ball training for each student one by one. As a result, it was often difficult to take care of all the students in one class.

With the help of Pombert, the coach's hands were freed.One robot can be responsible for the training of three players at the same time, and a coach can free up his energy to watch the training of six players at the same time.

In addition, compared with the traditional manual serving method, the robot has made great improvements in the difficulty, rotation, landing point and other aspects of serving.

Players don’t have to worry about level mismatches. The robot will provide training in different projects for different levels and groups, from zero to advanced players, to help everyone improve their table tennis skills.

Chen Bin, Vice President of the Table Tennis Academy, said:It is a digital sparring partner.It can help professional athletes to conduct very good professional training. "

The dream six years ago has come true step by step

This table tennis serving robot originated from a dream that Shi Zhihao, the dean of the Table Tennis Academy, had six years ago.

In 2014,A German robot marketing film showed a table tennis match between humans and robots, with the robot winning. This impressed Shi Zhihao.

He said in an interview,"We want to build a table tennis robot that can win the world's first place."Five years later, with the power of artificial intelligence, this dream has gradually become a reality.

In 2015,The China Table Tennis Academy has established an intelligent table tennis research center with the goal of creating a robotic arm that can serve as a sparring partner within two years.

In November 2017,The first table tennis robot in China, jointly developed by the China Table Tennis Academy and Siasun, was officially unveiled at the 19th China International Industry Fair.

Since then, after many upgrades, Pombert has continued to grow, his serve speed has continued to increase, and his skills have continued to improve.

The current serving robot Pombert is not only very similar to the balls served by real athletes and coaches, but also uses deep learning and reinforcement learning models.Learn to study your opponent's movements and strokes, and develop smart return strategies by predicting the trajectory of the table tennis ball.

Ren Jie, vice president of the Table Tennis Academy, said that in the future, in addition to daily teaching,This robot will also be accessible to ordinary people. After setting a series of parameters, a person can also play basketball.

But teaching the robot to serve is not the end of the dream of table tennis robots. Shi Zhihao also hopes that "one day table tennis robots can compete with Olympic champions and world champions."

References:

http://www.pong-bot.com/index/goods/pro_detail/cid/2.html

http://news.cctv.com/2020/06/20/ARTIHX12sRLxQ4KSbzCLQJrk200620.shtml

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