REMEMBER the basketball-shooting robot which made its debut in the Tokyo Olympics two years ago?
Well, an updated version of that stole the show in this year's Japan B.League All-Star Weekend in Mito.
CUE 6 — an updated version of the AI-powered, basketball-playing robot designed by Toyota Motors — participated in the side events and had the first crack in the Skills Challenge.
Take a look.
With Toyota sponsoring Alvark Tokyo, CUE 6 wore jersey no. 96 as it ran through the obstacle course.
Bot runs B.League course
The robot still had a lot to work on, especially its speed.
CUE 6 missed the first chest pass but made the second by essentially shooting the ball through the hole. It also faltered in its dribbling, failing to take control of the leather as it went from its left hand to its right as the 'bot ran through the remaining obstacles.
Save for those quirks, it ran through the course without too much problems, swishing the final three to log a time of 1:46.
It was not enough to win the contest and dislodge the humans from ruling the event, with Yuki Kawamura of the Yokohama B-Corsairs winning the Skills Challenge with 20.9 seconds.
For comparison, Shiga Lakes' Kiefer Ravena timed at 29.8 seconds before he finished the course.
Safe to say, humans can still heave that sigh of relief as our race still rules the hard court... for now.
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