Google's AI Robot Demonstrates Impressive Table Tennis Skills Against Human Players

Google's AI robot shows off impressive table tennis skills against human players. Watch

With everyday advancements in technology and constant upgrades and testing by researchers, artificial intelligence might be capable of things beyond our understanding. In a recent development, Google's AI company, DeepMind set a match between their robot and 29 skilled table tennis players. They conducted competitive matches against 29 table tennis players of various skill levels, including beginner, intermediate, advanced, and advanced+, as established by a professional table tennis instructor, in order to assess our agent's level of proficiency. As per the research, "humans played three games against the robot following standard table tennis rules with some modifications because the robot is physically unable to serve the ball. Against all opponents, the robot won 45% of matches and 46% of games. Broken down by skill level, we see the robot won all matches against beginners, lost all matches against the advanced and advanced+ players, and won 55% of matches against intermediate players." (Also Read: AI dating no longer a far-fetched reality, thanks to this Japanese startup. All you need to know) Barney J. Reed, Professional Table Tennis Coach told DeepMind, "Truly awesome to watch the robot play players of all levels and styles. Going in our aim was to have the robot be at an intermediate level. Amazingly it did just that, all the hard work paid off. I feel the robot exceeded even my expectations. It was a true honour and pleasure to be a part of this research. I have learned so much and am very thankful for everyone I had the pleasure of working with on this." The motivation to conduct this experiment was to check "human-level performance in terms of accuracy, speed, and adaptability". DeepMind also informed, "no prior research in robotic TableTennis has addressed the challenge of a robot playing a full competitive game against previously unseen humans".

Google's AI Robot Faces Pro Table Tennis Players, Wins 100% Of Beginner-Level Matches - News18

The AI agent, however, failed to notch a single victory against players of advanced and advanced-plus levels. Are robots developed with artificial intelligence capable of competing against professional athletes? To address the topic, Google's AI company, DeepMind recently set up a table tennis competition between their robot and 29 players of different skill levels. The influence of AI has been evident in many sectors in recent times. Technology has already raised eyebrows by doing many things beyond our imagination. Despite the notable progress, AI-created robots are yet to demonstrate human-level performance in terms of accuracy, speed and adaptability. As these qualities can only be assessed in sports, Google DeepMind decided on the table tennis competition. To assess the proficiency of their AI robot perfectly, a professional instructor was assigned to set the levels of its opponents - beginner, intermediate, advanced and advanced-plus. The matches were played following the standard rules of the game. Some modifications, however, had to be made as the robot was unable to serve the ball physically. After all the tests were over, it was seen that the AI robot recorded a win percentage of 45 percent in all matches while emerging victorious in 46 percent of games, as per a statement by Google DeepMind. Based on the skill levels, the AI robot won all matches against beginners and had a win percentage of 55 percent against mid-level opponents. It, however, failed to notch a single victory against players of advanced and advanced-plus levels. Barney J. Reed, a Professional Table Tennis Coach, was present there during the test. About the performance of the AI-developed machine, he said, "Truly awesome to watch the robot play players of all levels and styles. Going in our aim was to have the robot be at an intermediate level. Amazingly it did just that, all the hard work paid off." "I feel the robot exceeded even my expectations. It was a true honour and pleasure to be a part of this research. I have learned so much and am very thankful for everyone I had the pleasure of working with on this," Reed added. According to DeepMind, it is the first instance where a robot has played a full competitive game against previously unseen humans. Their AI agent featured a high-level controller that could promptly select the most effective skill. It also had several low-level skills which were specialised in some basic aspects of table tennis like forehand serve, backhand targeting and forehand topspin.

A Robot Made By Google DeepMind Can Beat Humans at Table Tennis

A robot from Google DeepMind was able to beat 100 percent of beginner-level players in tennis table matches. Researchers from Google DeepMind have unveiled an A.I. powered robot that is not only able to play table tennis with humans but can win matches nearly half of the time. According a recent paper from the A.I. lab published in Arxiv, it is the first robot agent capable of playing sports with humans at a human level. Sign Up For Our Daily Newsletter Sign Up Thank you for signing up! By clicking submit, you agree to our <a href="http://observermedia.com/terms">terms of service</a> and acknowledge we may use your information to send you emails, product samples, and promotions on this website and other properties. You can opt out anytime. See all of our newsletters The system represents a significant milestone in robot learning and control, especially regarding the ability to scale "robot learning to complex physical tasks which may involve a human partner or adversary," according to the paper. In addition to winning 45 percent of its games against 29 opponents, matches with the table tennis-playing robot were still enjoyable for more advanced players, who described the system as a promising practice partner. Table tennis has been a fruitful area for robotics research since the 1980s, according to Google DeepMind, due to the sport's qualities of high-speed motion, precise control, real-time decision-making and human-robot interaction. But up until now, "no prior work has tackled the competitive game in which a robot plays a full game of table tennis against a previously unseen human opponent," the A.I. lab said. The company's robot, which consists of a robotic arm holding a 3D-printed paddle, was trained on a vast dataset of low-level skills that included aspects like forehand topspin, forehand serve or backhand targeting. Able to select the optimal skill for a particular situation in light of game statistics and the opponent's capabilities, it continued learning as it played matches and therefore improved over time. The robot played 29 matches against players with beginner, intermediate, advanced and advanced+ skill levels. It beat all beginner players but lost 55 percent of games against intermediate opponents and won zero matches against more skilled players, suggesting its own skill level is intermediate. More advanced players were also able to identify and exploit the robot's weaknesses, such as its limitations in measuring spin, a weaker backhand and likelihood to miss low balls due to a collision avoidance protocol in its system. "It was truly awesome to watch the robot play players of all levels and styles," said Barney J. Reed, a competitive table tennis coach and one of the authors of Google DeepMind's paper, in a statement on a website dedicated to the project. "Going in, our aim was to have the robot be at an intermediate level. Amazingly, it did just that. All the hard work paid off," he said. After completing three matches each with the robot, players described the games as "fun" and "engaging," according to Google DeepMind. When asked how interested they would be in playing with the robot again on a scale of one to five, players gave a 4.87 average response. What impact will the system have on future robotics research? Games and sports have long been a fruitful area to experiment with A.I. and robotics, according to Google DeepMind. "Since the early days of artificial intelligence, chess and other competitive games have played a critical role in the development of new algorithms and technologies," according to its paper, which noted that A.I. agents can be found across games like backgammon, poker, Dota 2 and Go. Google DeepMind has previously developed programs like AlphaGo, which in 2016 notably beat Lee Sedol, a top-ranked Go player. Much work is needed to eventually build robots capable of performing useful tasks and safely interacting with humans, according to Google DeepMind. But its tennis table-playing robotic arm demonstrates a small step in the right direction and towards "a long-standing goal in robotics of achieving human-level performance on many useful real-world skills."

Viral video: Google's AI robot achieves human level competitiveness at table tennis

DeepMind, Google's AI company, organized a match between its robot and 29 skilled table tennis players. They played competitive matches against 29 players of various skill levels. Check the viral video here. Artificial intelligence may be capable of things beyond our comprehension as technology advances and researchers upgrade and test it on a regular basis. AI robots, for example, are being trained to be as close to humans as possible. They are folding laundry, doing chores, solving puzzles, and this one plays table tennis like a pro athlete. Here's what we are talking about. In a recent breakthrough, DeepMind, Google's AI company, organized a match between its robot and 29 skilled table tennis players. They played competitive matches against 29 table tennis players of various skill levels, including beginner, intermediate, advanced, and advanced+, as determined by a certified table tennis instructor, to evaluate our agent's degree of ability. Credit: YouTube | Against all opponents, the robot won 45% of matches and 46% of games As per the research, "humans played three games against the robot following standard table tennis rules with some modifications because the robot is physically unable to serve the ball. Against all opponents, the robot won 45% of matches and 46% of games. Broken down by skill level, we see the robot won all matches against beginners, lost all matches against the advanced and advanced+ players, and won 55% of matches against intermediate players." The goal of this experiment was to assess "human-level performance in terms of accuracy, speed, and adaptability". The company additionally stated that "no prior research in robotic TableTennis has addressed the challenge of a robot playing a full competitive game against previously unseen humans." Not just this robot there are other robots who are competing with human beings. Take this robot for example, watch the viral video below. Also read: Robot Shatters Guinness World Record, Solves Rubik's Cube 10 Times Faster Than Any Human What do you think about this? Tell us in the comments.