Google’s AI Robot Can Beat Humans In Ping Pong

Google’s AI company, DeepMind, has created a robot capable of beating the average person in ping-pong.

According to a recent test, DeepMind revealed their robot could beat humans who are amateurs at table tennis (ping pong) in 13 out of 29 matches.

The robot was competing against humans who were beginners and amateurs and was not competing against professional players.

Take a look at the robot here:

@GoogleDeepMind developed a robot agent that can beat humans in Ping Pong 🤯

The model delivers on speed/responsiveness, vision and strategy

It beat:
– 100% of beginner-level players
– 55% of intermediate players

🤖 1st time ever a robot has been capable of beating a… pic.twitter.com/7Br2ZZhc0r

— Troy Kirwin (@tkexpress11) August 12, 2024

Per US Sun:

Google’s AI company DeepMind has unveiled a paddle-wielding robot that can beat humans at table tennis in 13 out of 29 matches.

That’s a rate of nearly half of all games.

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DeepMind has claimed it is the first time a robot has been taught to play a sport with people at a human level.

The robot, which only boasts an amateur-level table tennis ability, represents strides in making AI-powered robots more skilful.

It beat all beginner-level human opponents it faced and 55 per cent of those playing at amateur level.

Although it still can’t challenge a pro-player.

Google just reported its DeepMind AI powered robot is beating some of the best ping pong players.

Here is me at CES in 2019, playing against Forpheus -Omron's AI powered ping pong robot. It was beating ping pong pros 5 years ago! pic.twitter.com/sCU9UZfVQQ

— Frank Curzio (@FrankCurzio) August 9, 2024

Alpha Ping Pong

Google DeepMind videos of an AI-controlled robot arm that can beat amateur human table tennis players.https://t.co/OuGmYgZ6gV

— Calum Chace (@cccalum) August 10, 2024

Per MIT Technology Review:

Do you fancy your chances of beating a robot at a game of table tennis? Google DeepMind has trained a robot to play the game at the equivalent of amateur-level competitive performance, the company has announced. It claims it’s the first time a robot has been taught to play a sport with humans at a human level.

Researchers managed to get a robotic arm wielding a 3D-printed paddle to win 13 of 29 games against human opponents of varying abilities in full games of competitive table tennis. The research was published in an Arxiv paper.

The system is far from perfect. Although the table tennis bot was able to beat all beginner-level human opponents it faced and 55% of those playing at amateur level, it lost all the games against advanced players. Still, it’s an impressive advance.

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“Even a few months back, we projected that realistically the robot may not be able to win against people it had not played before. The system certainly exceeded our expectations,” says Pannag Sanketi, a senior staff software engineer at Google DeepMind who led the project. “The way the robot outmaneuvered even strong opponents was mind blowing.”