Gizmodo: Major League Baseball probably hasn't even considered the idea of allowing teams to add artificial players to their rosters. But games would certainly be a lot more exciting if this EPFL arm—that can react in less than five hundredths of a second to catch an object—were to take the field.
The robot arm seems particularly well suited to sports applications since it doesn't required hours of programming to teach it how to make a catch. Instead, its creators have developed a system where the arm can be moved in real time by a human who teaches it how to catch a tossed object. Once it's got the basics down, the arm can use its camera-based tracking systems to refine its movements and snatch tossed objects before they hit the ground.
The research behind the arm can be applied to more than just sports, though. In fact, the robot's high-speed reflexes could be useful in everything from factories—where they can help protect human workers—to autonomous vehicles that could react and avoid an accident in the blink of an eye.
6 Comments
oohlalasassoonScale this up, add a cannon capable of firing a human, and you have the next big thing at the amusement park.
Sagemind...Steps off curb during a red light..., A robot arm comes out of no where, and yanks me back onto the curb.
Lights a cigarette in a no smoking area, the robot arm comes out of no where and snatches it from your mouth.
Urinating in public, the robot arm comes out of no where and rips you D*** off...
deathcowThese robotic snatches are tight!
lv_hunteruntil they start snapping peoples necks! SKYNET is upon us!
Oxen_Moralesays...Thanks for making the end of the world robots even more deadly.
spawnflagger<arnold>I need your clothes, your boots, your motorcycle, and your tennis racket. </arnold>
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