The Verge AI reporting · 1d ago · 2/5
Watch Sony’s elite ping-pong robot beat top-ranked players ↗
Sony's AI division has developed Ace, a ping-pong robot capable of defeating top-ranked human players in matches following official International Table Tennis Federation rules. Unlike earlier robots such as Omron's FORPHEUS, which competed against amateurs, Ace represents a significant advance in physical robotics by matching the speed and responsiveness required to compete at elite levels. The achievement demonstrates progress in applying AI to physical games, which pose greater engineering challenges than abstract games like Chess and Go.
Ace is the first robot that can beat the best human players while following the official rules of table tennis.
Physical games pose a much greater challenge as robots have to be engineered to match the speed and responsiveness of the human mind and body.