Robotic Foosball? Swiss Researchers Make It A Reality

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Students at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne have reportedly developed a machine that can beat human players at foosball. According to the researchers at the Swiss engineering school, the machine uses sophisticated software and off-the-shelf hardware; it calculates its moves with a camera that takes 300 images per second. The result is a robotic machine that can easily beat a player of average table soccer skills.

At first glance, the concept may seem like child's play. However, at the heart of the project is the ability to program robots that can quickly improvise movement and strategy. In the future, this concept may allow machines to perform increasingly complex manufacturing tasks that require on-the-fly adjustments, rather than simple repetition. It could also mean a new type of human-versus-machine gameplay in the coin-op and mechanical gaming entertainment realm.

So, what's next? Student researchers are planning to build a second robot and have competitions. "We plan to duplicate the system so we have a robot on both sides of the soccer table, where each team can develop their own strategy," said EPFL's Dr. Christophe Salzmann. In the end we plan to have a competition of these two strategies."

Now, if only they could develop a robot to play beer pong.