Japan Built A Basketball Robot For The Olympics, And It’s Awesome
Ever dreamed of watching a basketball game with robotic players? Toyota’s ‘CUE’ robot is designed to shoot baskets with nearly 100 percent accuracy.
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During the 2020 Olympics happening now in Tokyo, Toyota used the event to show off its robot that uses artificial intelligence to play basketball. That may sound like a headline from the future, but it’s far from the craziest thing AI has been used for. About a month ago, robotic company Boston Dynamics shared a video of its popular Spot robots dancing in unison to a BTS song. AI was also used earlier this year to write its own version of Star Wars Episode X. Artificial intelligence is a virtually limitless tool when put in the right hands, often resulting in unbelievable creations.
The Olympics officially began on July 23, 2021, after missing the original date of July 24, 2020. The games were delayed by a year due to COVID-19, and while the virus continues to rage on throughout the world, things have begun returning to some levels of normalcy — including the Olympics. Although the general public is banned from the stadiums and arenas for this year’s competition, athletes are competing and fighting for medals as they do every four years. While the Olympics are traditionally free of artificial intelligence, that changed this year.
During halftime for the United States Vs. France men’s basketball game, Japan-based Toyota used the break to show off its ‘CUE’ robot. Created in 2018, CUE was designed with the sole purpose of shooting basketballs with accuracy and precision that rivals the best human players. While the USA and France teams were getting ready for the second half of their game, CUE was placed at the end of the three-point line, shot three balls, and made every single one. As demonstrated in the video below, it’s really impressive stuff.
How The CUE Basketball Robot Works
CUE has a human-like shape with a torso, arms, legs, and head. The robot is 6-feet and 10-inches tall and weighs 165 pounds, making it a prime basketball player on paper. However, it won’t be replacing Kevin Durant or anyone else any time soon. While CUE can make incredible shots with a ball, it cannot dribble, dunk, jump, or even move that fast. It’s great for standing still and shooting free throws, but it’s not very useful for any other aspect of the game.
CUE utilizes sensors in its torso to calculate the exact distance from the hoop to make those shots. It uses this information to determine the best angle and power, thus resulting in a shooting accuracy of almost 100 percent. It’s undeniably impressive, but even when it comes to just shooting baskets, CUE is pretty slow — taking 10-15 seconds in between each shot to pick up the next ball, calculate everything, and throw it.
While some people might find it silly that Toyota spent so much time and money creating a basketball-shooting robot, CUE isn’t the end goal for the company. In 2015, Toyota made a $1 billion investment to dig deeper into the overall AI niche and find new ways to bring autonomy to cars, robots, and more. Robots will undeniably play a greater role in daily life over the coming years, and thanks to robots like CUE, researchers are learning how to make them as smart as possible. Regardless of what the big picture holds, however, it’s also just awesome to see a robot making three-pointers like it’s nobody’s business.
Link Source : https://screenrant.com/japan-basketball-robot-2020-olympics-toyota-cue/