Sony AI robot beats elite table tennis players in published tests

In short: Sony AI says its robot, Ace, has beaten elite human table tennis players under professional rules.

What happened

Sony, through its Sony AI group, built a table tennis robot called Ace. The robot uses nine cameras around the table and software that helps it decide what to do next (AI, which is like a computer system that learns patterns from lots of examples). This setup helps the robot track the ball and react fast enough to play rallies.

In results reported in a research paper published in the journal Nature, Ace beat three out of five elite players. These players each had more than 10 years of training. Against professional players, Ace lost two matches, scoring 48 points to the professionals’ 70.

Sony said the robot improved after the paper was submitted. In four more matches, it beat two elite players and won one of two matches against professionals.

Researchers said Ace could handle tricky situations like heavy spin and sudden changes in the ball’s path, including when the ball clipped the net. In the reported tests, Ace won more points directly from serve, scoring 16 “aces” compared with the elite players’ eight.

Why it matters

Robots have long been good at games on screens, like chess, because the world is neat and predictable. Table tennis is closer to real life because the ball moves fast and can behave in surprising ways. Still, some experts cautioned that this test is a controlled setting where the robot can see almost everything it needs to see, which is not the same as a robot safely dealing with messy, uncertain situations around people.

Source: Financial Times