Dual-armed Teutonic robot plays pool, carefully learns to hustle foolish humans

Sure, we’ve created interactive pool tables and digitally assisted billiards , but isn’t it time we completely outsourced our pool-playing to brutally efficient robots? The Germans obviously think so, using this year’s International Conference on Robotics and Automation to debut a dual-armed poolbot able to make “easier” shots about 80 percent of the time. Those misses sound a bit like hustling to us, and unlike Willow Garage’s friendly PR2 robot , the German version has a suitably intimidating, industrial look. It’s also a bit of a cheat, using an overhead camera to plan its shots. For the full lowdown on this shark, check the video after the break. Continue reading Dual-armed Teutonic robot plays pool, carefully learns to hustle foolish humans Dual-armed Teutonic robot plays pool, carefully learns to hustle foolish humans originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Jun 2011 05:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

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