Robots, players shoot hoops side by side at Gitex

Dubai - The robotic basketball player, which has no monicker yet, is a 6-axis robot - meaning it can move or rotate in six directions.

Move over Lebron James! The new king of basketball may soon take over the hardcourt.
A four-foot robot with a steel "arm" that could reach up to seven feet is displaying its basketball shooting skills over at the DG World stand at the 38th Gitex Technology Week at Dubai World Trade Centre.
In a game of basketball, where man is pitted against a robot, luckily, a human basketball player has an advantage because the robotic player doesn't move around and only throws the ball into the hoop.
However, when calibrated properly, with suitable ranging technologies, including light detection and ranging as well electronic rangefinder, the robot can shoot with 100 per cent accuracy!
Of course, shooting hoops from a stationary position is less difficult than scoring points while moving from various parts of the basketball court but any team would certainly include in its roster someone, or something, that can guarantee 100 per cent shooting ability.
Speaking to Khaleej Times on Tuesday, Gaurav Mundwariya, a robotic applications engineer at DG World, said the robotic basketball player, which has no monicker yet, is a 6-axis robot - meaning it can move or rotate in six directions.
The robot, manufactured by Kuka Robotics Corporation, measures the distance to the hoop with an electronic rangefinder, as well as by more sophisticated sensors like stereo vision or LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges.
The robotic hooper picks up the ball using a forked steel arm and scoops it up to the basket.
Seasoned ballers Salah Elshanti from Palestine and Argentinean expat Basel Mebar teamed up to beat the robot in a game of shooting. Out of 10 attempts, the duo made five baskets while the robot scored six baskets for 60 per cent accuracy.
The robot, though, had a slight advantage because the hoop was two feet higher than the usual 10-foot basketball ring.
Regarding its practical application, Gaurav said that robot basketball player has an industrial function. "With its pinpoint accuracy we can show that robots can do almost anything."
Who's better - man or machine?
Long before artificial intelligence was the catchphrase, the debate on who's better - man or machine - was a rage among the tech-savvy.
Back in 1996, Deep Blue, developed by IBM, was the first computer chess-playing machine to win both a chess game and a chess match against a reigning world champion under regular time controls. Deep Blue won its first game against Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov on February 10, 1996, in a six-game match. However, Kasparov won game three and drew two of the following five games, defeating Deep Blue by an aggregate score of 4-2.
IBM then heavily upgraded Deep Blue and played Kasparov again in May 1997. Deep Blue thus become the first computer system to defeat a reigning world champion in a match under standard chess tournament time controls. But Kasparov accused IBM of cheating and demanded a rematch. IBM refused and retired Deep Blue.
angel@khaleejtimes.com



The robot player shoots hoops with a visitor at the Gitex. - Photo by Dhes Handumon

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