Robot shortstop in development at Arizona State
By Stan Horaczek 
posted Jun 12th 2006 8:21AM
posted Jun 12th 2006 8:21AM
Robots have taken yet another step toward their goal of dominating humans in just about every sport, this time setting their digital sites on America's favorite pastime, baseball. Thomas G. Sugar, a robotics engineer from Arizona State University, has been developing robots designed to play the field for more than six years, and his latest model is pretty impressive. The yet-unnamed (might we suggest eRod?) bot uses a motion-sensing camera to determine when a ball is put into play, and an on-board computer system that calculates trajectory. Using that information, the cyber-fielder hurries to gather the ball with a foam pad -- a glove is a feature to be added in the future. Its four-wheel drive transmission allows it to reach speeds of about 30 feet per second, which is almost as impressive as its estimated .750 fielding percentage. Sadly, it can't swing a bat, but luckily there are other robots for that.
unless that things got a catapult or something hidden inside it then its fielding percentage is going to be a lot lower than 0.750! You do actually have to get the ball to a base after fielding it the last time I checked.
we need to take this one step at a time. the throwing will come after the catching.
What ever happend to that old Ken Griffey AllSport commercial where he was hitting like 3 balls at once and hanging from a blimp in center field? This reminds me of that...
robot slurmball, anyone?
I for one, want to welcome our new robot overlords and their whimsical little shortstop killbots
I find this pretty laughable considering ASU is poorly ranked as an Engineering School. Hell, the fact that I graduated from there was the motivation to go to graduate school and get a "real" engineering degree. ASU, stick to drinking and Communications Degrees.
Chris, ASU's Engineering School rankings got much higher right after you graduated. I think your 0.8 GPA was holding the rankings down.
Next up the Pitchomat 5000!
oops, blernsball
I knew it. There is always one oblivious person that doesn't have a clue about ASU. I just didn't figure it'd be someone that went there...unless it was one of those drop-outs that DID just go there for drinking and then found out that the school is actually legit. So, I am inclined to post the stats.
In 2005, 155 National Merit Scholars chose to attend ASU...more than any other school, private and public.
Last year the school produced 54 Fulbright scholars, 28 Goldwater scholars, 13 Truman scholars, and 1 Gilman scholar.
Oh, and ASU is primarily a research university. Their graduate engineering program is ranked top 50 in the US. Here are their respective rankings...did you go to a higher ranked grad school?
* Electrical Engineering: 29th
* Aerospace/Aeronautical Engineering: 25th
* Biomedical/Bioengineering: 20th
* Chemical Engineering: 50th
* Civil Engineering: 41st
* Computer Engineering: 34th
* Industrial Engineering: 15th
* Mechanical Engineering: 37th
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/eng/brief/engrank_brief.php
So, Vince, leave your stereotypical and uninformed comments to people that like cheap laughs...cause it's easy to make an idiot laugh.
At least we'll know one person -- or thing -- that ISN'T on steroids...