China Just Unleashed a Revolutionary Robot That Plays Badminton

Students and professors from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China have built a badminton-playing robot that is probably more skillful than most.

Equipped with high-definition cameras that capture images which are processed by an external computer, the machine called the “Robomintoner” is able to fully cover a court and return any type of shot thrown at it, reported China Central Television.

The fully-automated player calculates the trajectory of an opponent’s shot by tracking its movement and direction. It boasts an 80 percent success rate when returning a shot and navigates independently with a maximum speed of four meters per second.

The robot, which uses two mounted rackets, is not built for tough competitive play. While it is able to return a shot normally, as an average player would, its inability to powerfully do a smash return will not win it matches against a real player.

Players wanting to improve their game, however, will highly benefit from “Robomintoner” as it is set to be sold commercially as a badminton training partner in China.

Image by China Central Television

The skillful robot was able to test its capabilities with badminton champion Dong Jiong and Chinese premier Li Keqiang.

“We were required to create a robot that could play a doubles badminton match. We were the only team who made this robot fully automated,” said Huang Xi, one of the student creators of the badminton-playing robot. “We are in the business of making clever devices. We might as well make it fully intelligent.”

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