It’s CEATEC, so I knew Omron would once again bring out its huge table tennis robot to belittle us humans, but what I did not expect was a major performance jump this time. Forpheus, currently at its fourth generation, features improved AI to spice up its responsiveness — such a lot that it will currently predict and attempt to deal with smashes. Compared to the earlier versions that went simple on me, I found this one to be much more enjoyable with faster rallies. Better yet, there is currently a companion robot arm that throws a ball up and lets Forpheusserve, therefore making the robot a more realistic trainer or opponent.
The rest of the robot is apparently the same as before. you continue to get a display on each side of the “net” for showing the player’s status (not that the robot has to see it). there’s a three-camera system facing the human player within the main body, and also the bat below it’s driven by 3 arms plus a 5-axis motor. These are all powered by a massive motion controller computer Sat behind the stage. Forpheus
While Omron does not actually provide Forpheusas a product, the robot does help showing off the company’s mechanical and automation prowess to potential industrial clients. Still, I hope Forpheus will get to make a cameo look at the 2020 olympics, because at this rate, it’ll likely be able to sustain interesting games against the top athletes by then.
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