Ace, an advanced AI-powered robot, showcases a highly articulated design complemented by a sophisticated 12-camera vision system, enabling it to compete effectively against leading table tennis players.
While the development of table tennis robots, like Omron’s FOREPHUS which engaged amateur competitors at CES 2017, spans several decades, Ace distinguishes itself significantly. Developed by Sony’s AI division, this robot marks a breakthrough as the first of its kind capable of challenging and even occasionally defeating top-ranked human players in matches conducted under the official rules of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).
Although artificial intelligence has demonstrated mastery over humans in strategic games such as Chess and Go, physical sports present a considerably more complex challenge, demanding robots engineered to emulate the speed and agility of human cognition and physique. To achieve competitiveness in table tennis, a particularly demanding sport characterized by high-speed ball movement and trajectory-altering spin, Sony’s researchers designed Ace with an intricate eight-joint robotic system. Within this system, two joints precisely manage the paddle’s position, another two fine-tune its overall orientation, and the remaining three empower the robot to execute powerful shots.
Ace’s mechanical components are supported by a highly sophisticated vision system. This system comprises nine traditional cameras strategically positioned around the court, which accurately determine the ball’s position in three-dimensional space. Additionally, three specialized “gaze control systems” are employed to measure the ball’s angular velocity and spin, facilitating precise calculations of its trajectory.
A study detailing Ace’s remarkable capabilities and achievements, published today in the prestigious journal *Nature*, reveals impressive results. Sony reports that during test matches conducted in April 2025, the robot secured victories in three out of five games against elite players—athletes boasting over a decade of training—while experiencing two losses against professional players from competitive leagues. Furthermore, Sony confirms that Ace subsequently overcame professional players in December 2025 and again just last month, as reported by Reuters.
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