机器人运动员,身手不凡 [视频]

从棒球到台球,机器人正在不断提高运动技能,甚至参加了RoboCup和RoboGames等赛事

在这个感恩节周末,在大吃大喝之余,您可能想去户外扔橄榄球、投篮或踢足球,做些运动。如果天气恶劣(或者您住在布法罗),也许乒乓球或台球是不错的选择。
 
没法让家里人从沙发上起来?那就问问机器人吧。
 
当然,“会踢足球的机器人”可能指各种各样的东西,从高15厘米的立方体在桌面球场上推动小球,到超大型自动化装置。为了节日娱乐,我收集了一些类人机器人以及非类人装置的视频,它们在真实的场地表面上进行真实的游戏——对“真实”有一定的宽容度。每个视频(如下)后面都附有解释说明。
 
我亲自核实过这些视频,因为仅仅在网上搜索可能会被误导。例如,今年三月,一段视频在网上疯传,视频中一个工业级机器人手臂在一系列令人难以置信的熟练击球中,将一位专业乒乓球运动员逼到了极限;但结果证明,这只是库卡机器人集团(KUKA Robot Group)为了营销而策划的噱头。
 
如果您对类人机器人在奥运会式项目(如举重和功夫)中的比赛更感兴趣,请查看RoboGames。如果您还知道其他值得关注的机器人运动员,请在下面的评论区留言并附上链接。让我们看看能找到多少!
 
棒球: 有时人们说,体育运动中最难掌握的任务是击球。日本石川渡边实验室的研究人员设计了一款投球机器人和一款击球机器人。它们都不嚼烟草。


支持科学新闻事业

如果您喜欢这篇文章,请考虑通过以下方式支持我们屡获殊荣的新闻报道: 订阅。通过购买订阅,您将帮助确保未来能够持续产出关于发现和塑造我们当今世界的各种想法的有影响力的报道。


乒乓球,类人型: 乒乓球似乎很吸引机器人研究人员。这里展示的是在中国浙江大学开发的两个类人机器人相互对打,进行了多次回合。
乒乓球,非类人型: 这款来自欧姆龙自动化实验室的装置打得相当不错。通常情况下,如果机器人不必看起来或像人类一样移动,它往往可以表现得更好。
足球: “足球”,或fútbol,是地球上最受欢迎的运动。就像世界杯一样,也有一个机器人足球队参加的RoboCup,并根据机器人尺寸分为不同级别。下面的视频展示了美国队和日本队在“儿童尺寸”级别比赛中的一场比赛,双方都是两名机器人组成的队伍。
空气曲棍球: 咦?空气曲棍球不算运动吗?好吧,当您看到这款小巧的圆形桌面机器人时,您会印象深刻的。同样令人印象深刻的是,它的制造者,3D Systems的何塞·胡里奥,使用3D打印机的零件创造了它。
台球:我知道,它通常被称为“pool”,有些人不一定认为它是一项运动——但是您自己能在球桌上连续击落多少个随机摆放的球呢?德国慕尼黑工业大学的托马斯·尼尔霍夫制造的这款机器人可以连续击落五个!
羽毛球: 别以为这项运动很简单?试试看。这款来自比利时弗兰德斯机电技术中心的机器人只能在球场上沿着单轨道来回移动。然而,羽毛球——或称羽毛球——的飞行轨迹变化多端,因此仅仅是追踪并击打它就是一项成就。
篮球: 好的,匹兹堡卡内基科学中心的这款机器人只是一个投篮的巨大机械臂,但它似乎做得很好。

Mark Fischetti has been a senior editor at 大众科学 for 17 years and has covered sustainability issues, including climate, weather, environment, energy, food, water, biodiversity, population, and more. He assigns and edits feature articles, commentaries and news by journalists and scientists and also writes in those formats. He edits History, the magazine's department looking at science advances throughout time. He was founding managing editor of two spinoff magazines: 大众科学 Mind and 大众科学 Earth 3.0. His 2001 freelance article for the magazine, "Drowning New Orleans," predicted the widespread disaster that a storm like Hurricane Katrina would impose on the city. His video What Happens to Your Body after You Die?, has more than 12 million views on YouTube. Fischetti has written freelance articles for the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Smithsonian, Technology Review, Fast Company, and many others. He co-authored the book Weaving the Web with Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, which tells the real story of how the Web was created. He also co-authored The New Killer Diseases with microbiologist Elinor Levy. Fischetti is a former managing editor of IEEE Spectrum Magazine and of Family Business Magazine. He has a physics degree and has twice served as the Attaway Fellow in Civic Culture at Centenary College of Louisiana, which awarded him an honorary doctorate. In 2021 he received the American Geophysical Union's Robert C. Cowen Award for Sustained Achievement in Science Journalism, which celebrates a career of outstanding reporting on the Earth and space sciences. He has appeared on NBC's Meet the Press, CNN, the History Channel, NPR News and many news radio stations. Follow Fischetti on X (formerly Twitter) @markfischetti

More by Mark Fischetti
© . All rights reserved.