Fergie's Tech Blog

Robot catches high speed projectiles

High speed actuators enable the robot’s
fingers to move through 180 degrees
in 0.1 second.
(Image: Akio Namiki/University of Tokyo)

If robots are to inherit the Earth, then they should at least be able to catch. So say the researchers behind a bot that can match the most skilled human baseball player faced with a hurtling ball.

The robotic catcher, developed by scientists at the University of Tokyo, Japan, can comfortably grab a ball careering through the air at 300 kilometres per hour, or 83 metres per second, its creators say. And, of course, the robot never gets tired of doing so.

Akio Namiki and colleagues built the robot to test technologies that could some day make robots useful in situations where they may have to react at high speed.

posted by Fergie @ 8/04/2005 08:43:00 AM