CUE, Toyota’s humanoid robot, has gained popularity all over the world for its precise scores. CUE had also given an appealing appearance at halftime during the USA-France men’s game at the Tokyo Olympics 2020, but the AI keeps improving, and has now become the pride of Toyota Engineering Society(TES). The creation of this AI had started merely as a volunteer project, but is now more than that. With over 2,000 consecutive free throws in its pocket, CUE now holds the Guinness World Record for the same by a humanoid robot. And that’s not all either. This record was set by the third version of the AI, and it’s getting improvised right now! Aren’t you excited to watch a robot playing basketball?
Many have said that they would rather watch this robot shooting hoops, and perhaps a fully-blown robo BB game, because those played by humans are apparently getting unsatisfactory. CUE comes as a good news, because the athlete plays for Alvark Tokyo. The humanoid robot has sensors on its torso that help it calculate the distance, angle and strength. The ‘sliding’ stand on which the latest CUE’s feet are propped has a camera. According to Toyota, the cameras have greatly advanced sensing capabilities. A colored area resembling a thermographic image on the control screen is a new system that detects the distance from the palms to the ball and recognizes its exact position. Once the AI calculates the distance, it can shoot the ball. CUE has also been enabled with accurate detection of the ball’s position for each bounce to make its scores even more precise.
CUE dribbles with its left hand, but it can theoretically do just as well with its right. And the accuracy of the dribbling is unmatched! CUE’s fifth version played at the Ibaraki Robots match in December last year, ad showcased its unreal wrist flicks, scores and dribbling.
Now, the engineers are working on giving CUE the gift of zigzag dribbling to humanize its motions even further. Who is to say, next time, CUE might be given the gift of jumping. Not like it needs it, though. The robot is over seven feet tall!
Liked knowing about the robot playing basketball? Read about the robot that can taste food!
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