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Students and professors at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China have built a robot that can not only quickly cover an entire badminton court, but it can also return almost any shot. This robot is a serious opponent. It would likely beat most of us.
If it ever competed professionally it might not do as good as might think. Despite its strengths, the robot currently lacks the ability to aggressively hit a return back at its opponents. As good as it is, it doesn’t have that emotional energy burst that human players have. Still, it could always tire humans out with endless volleys.
[via iEEE Spectrum via Gizmodo]
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You never know when you’re going to want to play a round of badminton so it’s best to always travel with a badminton court. With this Instant Badminton Court you get everything you need to play in an easily transportable set. This freestanding set can be set up anywhere- lawn, driveway, beach, or any flat surface- no need to put stakes in the ground. The set folds up into this included zippered case:
The net sets up without tools to form an 11.5″ wide court while the base holds it in place. The set includes four badminton racquets and a pair of shuttlecocks so up to four people can play. Weighs just 9 pounds. And now you’re ready for any pop-up badminton challenges that come your way.
Instant Badminton Court
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As long as you’re not hung up on the idea of playing the game properly, with regulation court lines and fancy rackets, this $100 Instant Badminton Court should keep you somewhat entertained on a long summer day. No installation is required, as this freestanding set simply pops out of its carrying bag and expands into a regulation height, 11.5ft wide net. The kit comes with 4 rackets and 2 high-visibility shuttlecocks. Also, shuttlecocks is a funny word.
[ Product Page ] VIA [ LikeCool ]
I don’t get badminton. Isn’t it basically just tennis played like volleyball, while hitting something called a birdy? The birdy is also called a shuttlecock, which sounds like an astronaut chicken. I don’t get it. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t be impressed by this robot badminton player.
At the Flanders’ Mechatronics Technology Centre in Belgium (okily dokily!), researchers built a robot that they can play badminton with, called JADA. It’s pretty impressive to watch JADA in action. Its stereo vision system detects the shuttlecock from two visual angles. It then estimates the position of the shuttlecock and the robot’s software predicts the trajectory. After that an interception system hits it at the right point along the predicted trajectory.
That’s the same way that you would play – but your playing wouldn’t impress me. On the other hand, it impresses me that we can create a robot that does all this so well.
So why build a badminton robot in the first place? Its creators wanted to build a badminton robot to demonstrate new robotic technologies they are developing, and thought this would be a great way to showcase them in a single robot.
[via euronews]