Tennis-Playing Robot Capable of Over 20 Rallies With Humans Unveiled... 90% Forehand Success Rate

Humanoid robots now controlling traffic, too

A tennis-playing robot developed by Galbot. X (formerly Twitter)

A humanoid robot capable of rallying with humans in tennis has emerged in China, drawing significant attention.

According to China Central Television (CCTV) on the 17th, robotics specialist company Galbot (銀河通用, Yinhe Tongyong) has recently developed a humanoid robot that can sustain long tennis rallies with humans. In the released footage, the robot is shown moving across the court, stepping like a person, and swinging a racket to return the ball. Notably, the robot is able to predict the landing spot of fast-moving balls and maintain multiple rallies in succession.

This robot stands approximately 1.75 meters tall and learned tennis skills through deep learning without prior programming, relying on an intelligent control algorithm. It is reported to be capable of tracking balls traveling at over 50 km/h in less than 0.1 seconds, and performs movement, posture adjustment, and hitting using its entire body. In experiments, the robot achieved a forehand shot success rate exceeding 90%, and demonstrated the ability to reliably sustain rallies for more than 20 consecutive hits, according to the development team.

The development team added that, by applying a real-time full-body intelligent control algorithm, the robot is able not only to hit balls from predetermined positions but also to move autonomously and anticipate situations.

Galbot's tennis-playing robot. X (formerly Twitter)

Meanwhile, in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, a humanoid robot designed to direct traffic has also been introduced. This robot is deployed at actual intersections, where it uses hand gestures to instruct vehicles to stop, go, or turn, thereby controlling traffic flow. It is also equipped with the ability to detect and warn of traffic violations, such as not wearing a helmet or crossing the stop line. Local authorities plan to expand its use in the future to include supporting drunk driving crackdowns and responding to accident scenes.

Unexpected incidents involving humanoid robots have also occurred. On March 5 (local time) in Macau, a woman in her seventies was startled by a robot that suddenly appeared while she was walking and had to be transported to the hospital. The woman was looking at her mobile phone when the robot approached her from behind and startled her. Footage from the scene showed her protesting to the robot, while the robot repeatedly raised both its arms. Police later arrived and relocated the robot.

The robot in question was equipment operated by a local education center for promotional purposes. At the time, an employee was controlling it through a combination of programming and remote operation when the incident took place.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.