German Robot To Play Pool Game With Players

With the advent of automation technology, industrial robots were made available for the operation of heavy machines which were hazardous to human beings.

However, from the industrial area, friendly robots have now stepped into our doorsteps to live with us.

Robots are becoming increasingly sophisticated and human like day by day. Till date, we were entertained by these robots which could do basic tasks as best.

At present, the tech world is very excited with a robot which can play pool games like a human. A German team has produced a robot which can analyze and play pool games.

Thomas Nierhoff from Technische Universität München (TUM) has designed such a friendly sportsperson-like robot.

This playing robot was demonstrated at ICRA under a label entitled "Playing Pool with a Dual-Armed Robot" by Omiros Kourakos, Thomas Nierhoff and Sandra Hirche, all from the Institute of Automatic Control Engineering at TUM.

The robot is mobile and its height is almost the same as a human. Double 7-DOF arms are provided to the robot which helps it to see and manipulate the pool cue.

There is an overhead camera mounted above the level of the table to improve the accuracy level of the robot so that it can easily keep a track of all the balls on the game table.

It helps the robot to do the necessary calculations for the next shots as well.

The camera is hooked to the projector and also provides information to the robot’s inbuilt system about the successful shots it can play.

It can decide, analyze and calculate the orientation of its arms for the best shots. To be in the perfect position, it moves around the table with the help of predetermined co-ordinates.

For its assistance, digital billiard boards and interactive tables for pool games have also been designed and created, although these are only to test the success of the initial version of the robot.

Unlike PR2 from Willow Garage, this one has the conventional industrial look.

The research has not reached its final stage, so there are still many discrepancies about its success. Still, it can make stunning shots by pocketing five balls placed in a row with the help of its two important arms.

Moreover, in case of easier shots, there has a nearly 80% rate of success which is quite high for such a robot in its initial stage.

It has completed 400 shots with such success rates. Germany is proud to debut such a dual-armed pool playing robot at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

On further development and research, this robot can even play with human companions. Let us hope we can compete and play with this robot very soon.
 

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