[CES 2015] Would you prefer to face a robot apocalypse, or to have the world overrun with zombies? I think the latter would be a whole lot manageable – after all, robots are ruthlessly efficient, and more importantly, they happen to have the kind of intelligence to wipe us out systematically – which is something that zombies do not have. Oh yes, one more thing – waiting for a robot to rust and having all of its joints getting stuck would be a whole lot longer than sitting it out for the zombies to rot and decompose by themselves. Having said that, Empire Robotics has set up a beer pong booth at CES 2015, where a robotic arm reigns supreme.
The main objective of this technological showcase is not to show off how a robot is able to hold its own (and then some) in a game of beer pong, but rather, to highlight the “soft” technology which was used by Empire Robotics in the creation of its machines. The mechanized arm will be able to pick up each ping-pong ball in a green sphere, where it has been calibrated by shooting for the center cup 10 times, before additional adjustments were made so that it can hit the other cups.
Empire Robotics representative mentioned, “If you watch the video, you will see that the robot does not shoot from the same position each time. It moves according to which cup it’s aiming at.” This is not perfection just yet, and a human with innate skill could beat it. However, since alcohol has no effect on a robot in the event of a miss, and also a waste, it’d be a whole lot more consistent than a human in the long run. Looks like robots love playing ping pong – just ask Omron.
Filed in . Read more about CES, CES 2015 and Pong. Source: cnet