Google AI company DeepMind has created a robot that can play table tennis at a professional level.
The system features an industrial robot arm, the ABB IRB 1100, blended with custom AI software from DeepMind.
It holds a paddle made with 3D printing and featuring short rubber pips and when the game starts, Google DeepMind’s robotic arm swiftly moves into action. The researchers taught the robotic arm how to perform skills which are seen in competitive table tennis to gather more information.
The robot and its system collect information on how each skill is performed before and after training. The data gathered assists the controller in determining which skill the robot arm should use in the game. This allows the robot arm to predict its opponent’s move and respond.
The DeepMind robot competed in table tennis matches against players of different skill levels – beginner, intermediate, advanced, and advanced plus as evaluated by a professional coach.
The researchers learned from the games that the robot arm emerged victorious in 45 percent of the matches and 46 percent of the individual games. The robot arm emerged victorious in all matches against beginners and won 55 percent of matches against intermediate players. The robot lost all of its matches against advanced and advanced plus players, hinting that the robot arm has already achieved intermediate-level human play on rallies.
The researchers used four applications that could have practical applications beyond playing a challenging game involving a small ball and net. The applications are as follows:
- An organized and structured policy framework
- Approach for achieving zero-shot simulation-to-reality transfer, such as developing an iterative method for establishing the training task distribution based on real-world data.
- Adapting in real-time to unknown adversaries
- Conducting a study where the model competes against real players in real-life settings to evaluate its performance.
AI has been noticeable in various industries lately, technology has surprised people by achieving numerous feats that were previously unimaginable.
