Toyota’s robot shoots hoops and breaks records. NBA next?

Toyota’s AI-powered robot earned its second Guinness World Records title on the basketball court with the longest shot.

Toyota’s humanoid robot, CUE, was initially created by nine volunteers at Toyota as their free time project in 2017.

In the inception phase, it was a LEGO prototype before developing the look of a realistic basketball player. Over the years, the bot’s ability to throw the ball and aim it into the basket has improved significantly.

Thanks to AI, the CUE bot can learn from its mistakes in real-time. It evolved from making basic free throws to catching the ball, positioning itself, and sinking shots from the three-point line and beyond. Later versions enabled CUE to independently retrieve the ball, shoot from different positions, move on wheels, and even dribble.

Such learning capabilities have given results, with the robot earning a Guinness World Record for the second time.

According to a publication by Guinness World Records, the record-breaking event took place in Nagakute, Aichi, Japan, on September 26th. The sixth-generation robot, CUE6, won the title for the longest successful basketball shot by a humanoid robot.

The robot shot from nearly 25 meters, while the entire length of an NBA court is 29 meters. However, the robot still has some room to improve, as the longest-ever basketball shot was made by a human. Joshua Walker made a shot from 34.6 meters away in 2022.

“With the goal of attempting a record, we set out to shoot from a significantly farther distance than before,” said Tomohiro Nomi, CUE project leader at Toyota.

“We aimed to surprise the world by shooting from far away. And so, we took on this challenge to shoot from this distance.”

In 2019, the third-generation robot, CUE3, set its first record for completing 2,020 consecutive basketball free throws. Engineers reportedly ended the attempt, though speculation suggests it might have been capable of continuing indefinitely.

The robot is gaining momentum in the basketball world. It already showed its skill in January 2020 in the B.League All-Star Game’s three-point shootout. On December 24th, 2022, CUE6 was presented during halftime at the Alvark Tokyo vs. Shiga Lakes game.

Robots are getting more sophisticated

Apart from basketball, robots are surprising the internet with various capabilities. Google’s DeepMind researchers have trained a robot to play table tennis and defeat its human opponents.

In July, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) presented a humanoid robot trained to perform a variety of movements on different surfaces, including responding to humans, which enables it to dance in a realistic manner.

In April, a Chinese robotics company, Stardust Intelligence, released a video showing a humanoid robot doing chores, like uncorking a bottle of wine, flipping toast in a pan, and then ironing and folding a T-shirt.