Basketball Shooting Robot Sets World Record

One future scenario that I describe is called an Automated Society. There is always much skepticism when the scenario is discussed. Our mind tells us that humans do things that automation simply cannot replace. I use sports as a good way to explore the possibility of automating anything we set our minds to. Take for example a robot sinking a hole in one.

It would be easy to dismiss this as algorithms that can handle the math associated with precision on a golf course. How about then a robot at the bowling alley rolling (throwing) a strike.

Not enough? Well, a basketball shooting robot is more accurate then Steph Curry. Toyota built Cue 3 — a three- point shooting robot that recently shot 2,020 free throws in a row to break a Guinness World Record. According to this Article, the team started working on the robot in 2017 and realized that their task was much more complicated than they first imagined. They had to precisely place the basketball in the robot’s hands for each shot. Even the slightest change could cause the robot to miss the shot. Another challenge they had was getting the robot to reset to the exact position after each throw. They also had to worry about the position of the rim, which could be altered by the basketball. Watch Cue 3 in action.

Sports and technology have been the topic of the past month. Other related discussions can be found Here.

Originally published at http://frankdiana.net on December 15, 2020.