Robots outperform humans in table tennis and Beijing half marathon
Robots are making big moves into areas we usually think of as "human-only."
Sony's table tennis robot, Ace, has actually beaten top players using smart sensors and AI learning.
Over in Beijing, a humanoid robot called Lightning ran a one-half marathon in just over 50 minutes, faster than the men's human world record!
Robots show hardware gains, real-world limits
These wins come thanks to better hardware like vision sensors, reinforcement learning, and high-speed robotics.
But it's not all smooth sailing: Lightning needed help after falling during the race, showing robots still struggle with real-world surprises.
In China, robots also wowed crowds with complex dance and martial arts shows during New Year's celebrations.
As countries race ahead in robotics and AI, it looks like robots might soon take on even more roles we never expected!