Tokyo Olympics Engages Robot Basketball Player To Show Teams What’s Good
Image via Toyota
Somebody hand this robot a contract, because it’s slamming it at the Olympics.
Things initially went smoothly for Team USA, as it led with 45-37 against France in the first half of men’s basketball on Sunday. However, France caught up and triumphed with an 83-76 score, breaking the US’ 25-game winning streak at the Olympics.
The nail-biting game would indubitably leave fans on the edge of their seats, but their spirits were at least lifted—if not distracted—by the human-sized basketball-playing robot who took the court at the halfway point, perfectly shooting hoops with no trouble at all.
Starting at the free-throw line, the AI humanoid moved to the three-point line and then half-court, free-throwing like a natural basketball star.
Turns out, it was truly born to play basketball. The robot, named ‘CUE’, was designed by Toyota employees in their free time to be able to score 100% of its shots.
CUE’s jersey number seems to tally with how updated its technology is. It bore the digits 95 at the Olympics, while a press release from 2020 revealed the bot in a shirt printed with the number 94.
The android basketballer also seems to have the height for the sport; in the latest release, CUE is described to stand at a terrifying 2.09m (about six feet and 10 inches).
However, it has a weakness; where CUE excels in free-throwing, it struggles with defense. Which athlete doesn’t have an Achilles heel, though? The robot’s ability to shoot hoops 100% of the time outweighs its shortcomings, and whether or not it has a future in playing for basketball teams remains in the courts of managers themselves.
Making his Olympics debut, Mr. Robot 🤖 went for 3/3 at the half-time show!#Tokyo2020 #Basketball pic.twitter.com/GEFAJOve7d
— FIBA #Tokyo2020 (@FIBA) July 25, 2021
A basketball robot. For your pleasure. pic.twitter.com/5LZF2vpwNg
— Ann Killion (@annkillion) July 25, 2021
France provided the goods with an upset against Team USA - but did you catch the new star of Olympic basketball on show at halftime? 🤖
— Olympics (@Olympics) July 25, 2021
It made sinking shots look easy! 🏀👀 #Tokyo2020https://t.co/ZB6KhZjvCk
[via Insider, images via various sources]
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