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Ping-pong robot beats top-level human players

reuters.com

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Re: Ping-pong robot beats top-level human players

#201

Post by rich_sasha »

spwa4 wrote: post #156
rich_sasha wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's going to happen and at some level I'd rather war casualties were measured in robots rather than people. My concern is the cottage industry of integrating guns with half baked AI at the lowest cost. And probably vibe coded too. The companies don't care - a sale is a sale. MoD maybe doesn't care - 90% accuracy and less human casualties on their own side are a win. Governments want to save money and by the time the…

The problem is always the same. It's not just MoD (is it MoW now?) that will have access to this. YoloV8 + optical flow works fine on an esp32. You want to give a drone rough coordinates for a refinery and hit something in it, like a storage tank? That'll work. This means, give it 5 years, relatively small groups will have access to it. This cannot be stopped. The only real answer is to work to have groups that you c…

Sadly, building an AI that analyses camera imagery and aims at humans, from scratch, is these days almost an intern project. It's not really something you can control or ban, the way you can control, dunno, uranium enrichment.

Integrating it with a robot and sticking a gun on it, thankfully, requires a bit more know-how.

Re: Ping-pong robot beats top-level human players

#202

Post by ishouldbework »

mghackerlady wrote: post #195
phtrivier wrote: post #20

My biggest fear at the moment is robot armies and police forces. Case in point : we're all expecting China needs to invade Taiwan soon, or they will run out of soldiers because of the one child policies of the 70s/80s. Meanwhile, Ukraine is holding up against a "modern" army with quickly assembled drones. So it all seems a bit like "they'll never put tanks through the Ardennes", sort of ? Where and when will the firs…

Is it possible South Koreans edge in RTS games is from their compulsory military service? Also, China is not likely to invade Taiwan any time soon. It'd be geopolitical suicide and they're currently in a very good spot geopolitically. Invading the country with the rest of the worlds chip fabs is the quickest way to lose that

> Is it possible South Koreans edge in RTS games is from their compulsory military service?

Unlikely, most players postpone their service as long as possible, and majority does not play professionally again after completing it.

Re: Ping-pong robot beats top-level human players

#203

Post by AussieWog93 »

theshrike79 wrote: post #185
AussieWog93 wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly that sounds dystopian even ignoring the killer robot aspect. Imagine the only "flesh and blood" human contact you have being optimised away to reduce cost by 10-20%.

Yes, in a perfect world we'd have infinite nurses who have infinite time to spend quality time with each client. In the real world, right now, nurses have a set time in minutes to visit each client and if there's traffic or someone has fallen over and needs extra care, guess what? Someone else gets less time or the nurse has to work overtime, usually un(der)paid. (Sauce: have people in both sides of this equation in…

>I'd much rather have the daily care of my elder relatives managed by a remote operated bot than watch one more grandparent wither away slowly in an elderly care facility.

Yeah shit, I don't know which is worse. My plan is just dying before I reach that stage.

Re: Ping-pong robot beats top-level human players

#204

Post by f6v »

phtrivier wrote: post #20

My biggest fear at the moment is robot armies and police forces. Case in point : we're all expecting China needs to invade Taiwan soon, or they will run out of soldiers because of the one child policies of the 70s/80s. Meanwhile, Ukraine is holding up against a "modern" army with quickly assembled drones. So it all seems a bit like "they'll never put tanks through the Ardennes", sort of ? Where and when will the firs…

> we're all expecting China needs to invade Taiwan soon

Ah yes, China has a track record of invading countries.

> or they will run out of soldiers because of the one child policies of the 70s/80s

As opposed to NATO countries who have a steady increase in the number of young conscripts.

> Meanwhile, Ukraine is holding up against a "modern" army with quickly assembled drones.

I don't know why you put modern in parentheses. Russia did make a mistake of not adopting cheap drones earlier in the war. But Russians were the first to use optic fiber drones resistant to electronic warfare which gave them an edge during Summer offensive last year. Ukrainians have since caught up and their allies were able to supply them with large number of drones. But both Ukraine and Russia rely primarily on drone warfare and artillery becomes less important for both sides. Which all explains the static state of this war.

Re: Ping-pong robot beats top-level human players

#205

Post by throwatdem12311 »

fc417fc802 wrote: post #128
throwatdem12311 wrote: post #87

I don’t care about robots being better than humans at human achievement. Would anyone ever watch Clankers play hockey against eachother at a Clanker Olympics? The idea is absurd, I want to see humans competing because they are humans not just because they are good.

I would absolutely watch a clanker olympics if it was tightly regulated, involving fully autonomous bipedal robots that fit within a strict physical envelope putting on inhuman displays of athleticism. I'd be particularly interested in gladiatorial competitions since on top of super human athleticism blood sports have otherwise fallen out of favor due to the human cost. Are you seriously telling me you wouldn't enjoy…

When I watched Battle Bots and Gundam Wing as a kid - even though the robots were cool without the human side of the story it’s all pretty lame.

So maybe if people were actually piloting or tele-operating the mecha, but just watching semi-autonomous war machines destroy eachother? Meh

Re: Ping-pong robot beats top-level human players

#206

Post by [deleted] »

phtrivier wrote: post #20

My biggest fear at the moment is robot armies and police forces. Case in point : we're all expecting China needs to invade Taiwan soon, or they will run out of soldiers because of the one child policies of the 70s/80s. Meanwhile, Ukraine is holding up against a "modern" army with quickly assembled drones. So it all seems a bit like "they'll never put tanks through the Ardennes", sort of ? Where and when will the firs…

[deleted]

Re: Ping-pong robot beats top-level human players

#207

Post by silon42 »

user3939382 wrote: post #75
throwup238 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also IT'S TABLE TENNIS, NOT PING PONG! Alas HN has finally found its next religious war! I’ve been feeling a little bored after that whole tabs vs spaces one was settled.

Settled how? Tabs win, right?

Only if you accept that they are set to 8.

Re: Ping-pong robot beats top-level human players

#208

Post by david422 »

drfloyd51 wrote: post #181
Filligree wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I refuse. My code will be formatted according to my own preferences.

Imagine a world where your editor shows you what you want to see… but saves in a standard format for sharing.

That's what tabs accomplish!

Re: Ping-pong robot beats top-level human players

#210

Post by XCSme »

__patchbit__ wrote: post #172
perlgeek wrote: post #115

> In matches detailed in the study, Ace in April 2025 won three out of five versus elite players and lost two matches against professional players, the top skill level in the sport. Sony AI said that since then Ace beat professional players in December 2025 and last month. What exactly is an "elite" player, if it's not a professional?

Professionals play for money. Elites just do it.

So, an amateur player
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