The future of sports? There's a robot sinking basketballs at the Tokyo Olympics.
Just a little preview of our robot overlord-ruled dystopian future to darken your Sunday.
The Tokyo Olympics are in full swing, as anyone who has the ability to set the TV channel to NBC is no doubt aware. And while the biennial showdown between world-class athletes and the nations they represent is entirely a celebration of human excellence, in 2021 at least one robot is being allowed to have a little fun, as a treat.
Fresh from the Tokyo Olympics Twitter account we have this clip of a tiny-headed robot — WHY IS ITS HEAD SO SMALL, Mashable's EiC asked in Slack — shooting, and sinking, free throws. Look at this mad nonsense.
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Nothing but net! (The robot moved further back right after this and immediately sunk a three-point shot with ease as well.)
Why is this robot wearing a jersey with the number 95 on it? I don't know enough about basketball to have a good answer for you there. But I do know robots, and this almost seven-foot tall future Robolympics (not actually a thing) superstar has the goods.
Kidding aside, this basketball-slinging robot appears to be CUE, a Toyota-developed creation that was first built — the original model, anyway — in 2018. In 2019, the third version, CUE3, went out to set a Guinness world record. It's not clear if the one attending the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo is the same model or a newer one, but it appears to be from the same line of perfect-shooting automatons.
The odd moment you see above played out as part of the halftime festivities during Sunday's showdown between Team USA and France. France ultimately won the match-up, 89 to 79.
Topics Artificial Intelligence Olympics
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
