
March 11 will be a duel in ping pong between the machine and the man (Timo Boll)

Not so long ago, news was published on Habré about a robot that can play air hockey, and quite skillfully. In the comments, I remember, predicted the imminent appearance of robots for playing table tennis.
It turns out that such robots already exist, and, as far as one can understand, one of them can carry the proud title of a professional ping-pong game. In any case, between this robot (KR Agilus) and a man (Olympic champion, multiple winner of table tennis competitions of different levels Timo Ball ) a match will take place. And you won’t have to wait long: the meeting of the person and the robot is scheduled for March 11.
The meeting will take place not in Germany, as one might think (both the athlete and the robot manufacturing company are Germans, so to speak about the company), but in China, Shanghai. There is no reason to be surprised - the "competition" is timed to coincide with the opening of the Kuka factory in China.
Unfortunately, the video below does not show much about the capabilities of the robot. Nevertheless, since the developers are going to hold a match between their brainchild and the champion, they trust the robot. By the way, the developer is the German company Kuka, which usually produces industrial robots (and the company has been working since the 70s of the last century, if not earlier).
Via kuka-timoboll + gizmag