5 ms·

The heck with all that. Show me the software that beats Roger, Rafa, and Nole at tennis!

pmoriarty 7y ago
I'm not sure if you'll have that long to wait, considering the kind of success Boston Robotics has been having. I would be surprised if by the end of the century robots couldn't beat humans at every physical sport in existence. It's likely that robots and robotically-enhanced humans will both be banned from competing directly with humans in sports, because it'll be no contest -- in the robots' favor.
- p1esk 7y ago
  Ping pong is almost solved: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZzL2rDNSJk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZzL2rDNSJk Give it a year or two and it will probably beat the world champion. Tennis is more challenging, but still, the surface is flat, no obstacles, so a platform with wheels carrying an arm with a racket could be fast and stable. I'm not even sure what would be the hardest part to make a champion tennis robot.
  - AnimalMuppet 7y ago
    The hardest part might be to create one that can store enough energy to last through a five-hour match.
    - pmoriarty 7y ago
      Why couldn't it just change batteries as needed, or just be wired up to power for that matter? I'd expect something like wrestling would be much more challenging than non-contact sports, assuming, of course, that the robot's strength and torque was limited to human levels. Wrestling is actually a pretty interesting case, now that I think about it for a bit, as robots wouldn't need to be limited to human-like bodies. In principle, they could have, say, a starfish-like or octopus-like body, where its tentacles would allow it to grip its human opponent in ways that may be impossible to escape, even were the robot limited to human strength. So I suspect that in sports like wrestling (and maybe all other sports), robots that are allowed to compete would likely be limited to human-like forms, as other forms could give them too great an advantage.
      - AnimalMuppet 7y ago
        > Why couldn't it just change batteries as needed, or just be wired up to power for that matter? Because the human it's playing can't. In a sport where endurance is a significant component, wiring one competitor up to power, while the other has to use only the fuel that he/she has stored, doesn't seem like an equitable competition.
        p1esk 7y ago
        I agree that it must be battery powered, but keep in mind that human players eat snacks during long matches.
        Andrew_nenakhov 7y ago
        Are you suggesting to ban human players from drinking water during the match?
        AnimalMuppet 7y ago
        No, I wasn't. I don't think that a drink of water is the same as a battery swap.
        Andrew_nenakhov 7y ago
        Why not the same? If you impose the restriction on competitors to use only the fuel that he/she has stored, it would be very unfair to allow one player to break this rule and refill himself.
        AnimalMuppet 7y ago
        Water isn't an energy source, though. Letting the robot top off on, say, hydraulic fluid or coolant or whatever, might be the same. Even battery water.
        Andrew_nenakhov 7y ago

I'm not sure if you'll have that long to wait, considering the kind of success Boston Robotics has been having. I would be surprised if by the end of the century robots couldn't beat humans at every physical sport in existence. It's likely that robots and robotically-enhanced humans will both be banned from competing directly with humans in sports, because it'll be no contest -- in the robots' favor.

p1esk 7y ago
Ping pong is almost solved: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZzL2rDNSJk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZzL2rDNSJk Give it a year or two and it will probably beat the world champion. Tennis is more challenging, but still, the surface is flat, no obstacles, so a platform with wheels carrying an arm with a racket could be fast and stable. I'm not even sure what would be the hardest part to make a champion tennis robot.
- AnimalMuppet 7y ago
  The hardest part might be to create one that can store enough energy to last through a five-hour match.
  - pmoriarty 7y ago
    Why couldn't it just change batteries as needed, or just be wired up to power for that matter? I'd expect something like wrestling would be much more challenging than non-contact sports, assuming, of course, that the robot's strength and torque was limited to human levels. Wrestling is actually a pretty interesting case, now that I think about it for a bit, as robots wouldn't need to be limited to human-like bodies. In principle, they could have, say, a starfish-like or octopus-like body, where its tentacles would allow it to grip its human opponent in ways that may be impossible to escape, even were the robot limited to human strength. So I suspect that in sports like wrestling (and maybe all other sports), robots that are allowed to compete would likely be limited to human-like forms, as other forms could give them too great an advantage.
    - AnimalMuppet 7y ago
      > Why couldn't it just change batteries as needed, or just be wired up to power for that matter? Because the human it's playing can't. In a sport where endurance is a significant component, wiring one competitor up to power, while the other has to use only the fuel that he/she has stored, doesn't seem like an equitable competition.
      - p1esk 7y ago
        I agree that it must be battery powered, but keep in mind that human players eat snacks during long matches.
      - Andrew_nenakhov 7y ago
        Are you suggesting to ban human players from drinking water during the match?
        AnimalMuppet 7y ago
        No, I wasn't. I don't think that a drink of water is the same as a battery swap.
        Andrew_nenakhov 7y ago
        Why not the same? If you impose the restriction on competitors to use only the fuel that he/she has stored, it would be very unfair to allow one player to break this rule and refill himself.
        AnimalMuppet 7y ago
        Water isn't an energy source, though. Letting the robot top off on, say, hydraulic fluid or coolant or whatever, might be the same. Even battery water.
        Andrew_nenakhov 7y ago