Meet the Badminton Playing Robot Polishing Its Smashing Skills

Hold your breath folks because this uber-talented and technologically advanced badminton playing robot will leave you gaping in awe. The robot that is practicing its game-winning shots and perfecting its smashing skills is here to prove us that humans are no longer the only intelligent species on the planet.

Shotaro Mori at the University of Tokyo, one of the team members who has built this wonder genius says, “Badminton is known to be a high-speed game and requires players to perform dynamic and skillful motions,” It has “excellent potential as a sparring partner,” he further added.

The robot that features a fixed badminton bot base holds a racket in one hand using its robotic arm. It has a motion sensor camera and reflexive tape on the shuttlecock to figure out the position of the latter and make the required movement to swing it.

Furthermore, the robot is intelligent enough to play skillful shots like spin net shot, which leaves the opponent team wrecked.

However, the robot’s arm can generate velocity equal to that of a human arm, but the racket does not swing equivalent to that of a human speed. The robot is currently weighed around 4 kg in order to cover the whole court. It is only restricted to remain at one place and return the shuttlecock at an average 70% of time.

This project shall be presented to the International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Brisbane, Australia, this week.