Watch: Robot beats elite table tennis players at their own game

An AI-powered robot outplayed elite table tennis players and has been hailed as a milestone in robotics. The Sony AI robot, named Ace, won a whopping three out of five matches against the players, losing two games against professionals. In footage published in research paper “Outplaying elite table tennis players with an autonomous robot” on Wednesday (22 April), Ace is shown displaying expert skills such as a rapid backspin shot and balls catching on the net. The victory has been labelled as a milestone for robotics as it represented one of the most difficult tests to show how far the technology has come.