Toyota robot set a record for throwing a ball into a basketball hoop, but it’s still a long way from a human

It seems that in the foreseeable future there may be Olympic Games for robots, where they will bring sporting glory to the companies and countries in which they are created. At least the Guinness Book of Records has already begun to take into account the sporting achievements of “non-humanoids”. A new record among robots was set by the humanoid robot Toyota, which made the farthest accurate throw into a basketball hoop.

Image source: Toyota

The Toyota CUE project was born as a “garage development”. Several employees of the company in 2017, in their free time, began to create a humanoid robotic platform for playing basketball. In CUE3, introduced in 2019, Toyota’s humanoid robot set its first hoop shooting record. He entered the Guinness Book of Records for a series of accurate throws from a distance of 3.6 m, making 2020 hits in a row. After that, the developers simply turned it off, realizing that the process could continue indefinitely.

The farthest human throw into a basketball hoop belongs to Joshua Walker, who hit the ball from a distance of 34.6 m (the length of the court is 29 m). The Toyota CUE6 robot threw the ball into the hoop from a distance of 24.55 m, which became an achievement listed in the Guinness Book of Records. The hit happened on the second attempt: the first time the ball hit the ring and bounced off.

The Toyota CUE6 robot uses artificial intelligence and a learning system to correct the position of the manipulators, the force and direction of the push in real time. For this purpose, cameras are built into his legs. The robot does not just aim at the target and throw the ball, but calculates the trajectory of the throw at any time and from any position.

In addition to accurate shots, the Toyota CUE6 robot is trained in a number of basketball techniques. He handles the ball equally well with both his right and left hands, changes positions and moves around the court. The Toyota engineering team behind it hopes to create the ultimate robotic volleyball player in the future.