Deep Green “Amateur” Pool Robot
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Tuesday, 9 of September , 2008 at 2:21 am
I’ve always appreciated the mathematical nature of the game of pool… How if you know trigonometry and physics and how to use those little diamond thingies along the sides of the table, practically any shot is possible. I know none of those things and prefer to play pool with my gut (in the figurative sense), but it seems like exactly the sort of game a robot would kick ass at. Deep Green is a gantry mounted 3 DOF industrial robot, with a wrist attachment that holds a pool cue. An electric motor is used to drive the cue during normal play, while a pneumatic CANNON takes over for breaks. The brains of the robot rely on cameras mounted both above the table and on the wrist joint itself, and it’s worth noting that there’s nothing special going on with the balls or the table; the computer determines which balls are which by looking at the different patterns and colors. So yes, you could set this thing up in your basement if you wanted some competition that won’t laugh at you.
The trickiest bit about this setup is the degree of repeatability and precision, but not accuracy, that the robot is capable of. Even sub-millimeter accuracy isn’t good enough for making shots across the table. Deep Green uses adaptive visual positioning to keep itself accurate to within half a degree, which is way better than my spastic technique is good for. As far as the game itself, much like its namesake Deep Green is able to look ahead and plan for multiple contingencies much faster and more efficiently than a human can. “Deep Green currently plays at a better-than-amateur level, planning and executing difficult combination and rail shots from across the table. It has pocketed runs of four consecutive balls, and it’s only a matter of time before it can consistently run the table.”
That’s right, only a matter of time. Sends chills down your spine, doesn’t it?
[ Computer.org ] VIA [ OhGizmo ]
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Category: Competitive, Research
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