Man vs. Machine: The World’s Longest Counterturn in Table Tennis

Yang Meiping / SHINE

The robot and a teacher at Shanghai University of Science and Technology were awarded the Guinness Book of Records on Friday for setting a record for the world’s most consecutive table tennis counter-hits.

In about two hours, robot Xiao Qiu and teacher Ji Yunfeng hit the ball 6,241 times in a row.

The robot has been developed by Ji and several students of the University’s Institute of Mechanical Intelligence over the past three years under the guidance of Zhang Jianwei, a professor at the University of Hamburg.

A robotic system with a six-joint mechanical arm holding a table tennis racket can hit the ball with both the palm and the back of the hand.

Unlike some robots on the market that serve or receive in a fixed location, Xiao Qiu can move in two-dimensional slides and achieve real human-machine interaction.

Yan Jingyang / SHINE

To help Xiao Qiua capture his opponent’s movements as well as the path and speed of the ball, the team has installed six cameras above the table, two above the robot, two above the human player and two to the sides.

With an artificial intelligence-enhanced control system, the robot can detect the player’s movements, predict the route of the ball, evaluate and hit the ball in half a second.

Xiao Qiu’s performance was quite stable throughout the two hours against Jia.

“Xiao Qiu is a robot with autonomous learning ability,” Ji said. “It’s been playing with me for a long time to learn about my playing habits and to react quickly. If it plays with another, it needs time to gather new information about the player’s habits.”

Ji said the team will increase Xiao Qui’s activities so it can help people in need of rehabilitation.

Their long-term goal is to develop a two-legged robot that is able to walk flexibly in front of a table to play table tennis with amateurs or even athletes.

Yan Jingyang / SHINE

Yan Jingyang / SHINE