TOSY TOPIO - Table Tennis Playing Robot : DigInfo

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Making it's worldwide debut at the Tokyo Robot Exhibition 2007, TOPIO, or the TOSY Ping Pong Playing Robot, is a humanoid robot capable of playing table tennis against a human opponent.

The hydraulics manipulated robot is composed of a carbon fiber composite allowing for fast reactions and a flexible range of movements with 20 degrees of freedom.

The ball's trajectory and spin is detected using 4 high speed cameras and 2 processing units, and it's advanced AI module allows it to continuously improve itself while playing.

"We wanted to design a robot that can compete with professional players competently, and on the same level. In the future, we want to make robots that can replicate natural human movements and actions, and do things such as throwing a ball or playing football, which can also be used in a variety of practical applications."

The robot can also record and report scores and express emotions while playing, and is just one of the large-scale projects currently being developed in the R&D Labs of Tosy Toys.

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