New MIT project, artificial muscles made from woven fibers powered a soft robotic arm. Key is tiny embedded pumps that move fluid using electric fields, eliminating noisy compressors. The result: smooth, compliant motion suitable for wearable devices.
New @Nature paper today : Sony's Ace robot beats 3 of 5 elite table tennis players. Loses to professionals.
Human players win points with faster-than-average shots (p<0.001 between won vs returned). Ace wins with ordinary shots. Same speed and spin profile whether it wins or loses the rally (p=0.88).
It's playing a completely different sport than the humans are.
Trained entirely in simulation. Zero sim-to-real tricks beyond good physics modeling and asymmetric actor-critic (critic sees ground truth, actor sees noisy sensors).
Best part — after watching a point, 1992 Olympian Kinjiro Nakamura said:
"I didn't think it was possible. But the fact that it was possible... means that there is a possibility that a human could do it too."
Code: https://t.co/8ZZEh3BeVm
Paper: https://t.co/NhFPzYVOyi