Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
This robot can beat elite players in a game of table tennis. The robot, which is named Ace, uses a combination of cameras, sensors and gaze control systems to quickly analyze where a ping-pong ball is, how fast it's moving and how quickly it’s spinning. All those data points feed into an artificial intelligence system that uses reinforcement learning to help Ace get better at ping-pong.
In a new paper, researchers pitted Ace against five elite players and two professional players. Ace won three of five matches against elite players, and lost both matches against professionals. As far as the research team knows, this is the first time an AI system has outperformed human athletes in a game as interactive and skill-based as ping-pong.
Credit: Dürr, P., El Gheche, M., Maeda, G.J. et al. Outplaying elite table tennis players with an autonomous robot. Nature 652, 886–891 (2026). doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10338-5
#pingpong #robots #science #robotics
This robot can beat elite players in a game of table tennis. The robot, which is named Ace, uses a combination of cameras, sensors and gaze control systems to quickly analyze where a ping-pong ball is, how fast it's moving and how quickly it’s spinning. All those data points feed into an artificial intelligence system that uses reinforcement learning to help Ace get better at ping-pong.
In a new paper, researchers pitted Ace against five elite players and two professional players. Ace won three of five matches against elite players, and lost both matches against professionals. As far as the research team knows, this is the first time an AI system has outperformed human athletes in a game as interactive and skill-based as ping-pong.
Credit: Dürr, P., El Gheche, M., Maeda, G.J. et al. Outplaying elite table tennis players with an autonomous robot. Nature 652, 886–891 (2026). doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10338-5
#pingpong #robots #science #robotics
