The PR2 Calls The Shots

Can you beat this robot at pool? This sparks something of a “let the wookie win” attitude for us, but we still love to watch the video. This is the PR2 playing pool thanks to the folks over at the Willow Garage. It uses a laser sensor to detect the legs of the pool table, and cameras to find the diamonds and balls at the playing surface rather than using an overhead camera. They cut down on the coding work needed by using FastFiz, an open source Billiards physics library. The final step was building an interface so the robot could use a cue. Check it out after the break (no pun intended).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMx1xW2E4Gg]

[Thanks Thrasha666 via Engadget]

15 thoughts on “The PR2 Calls The Shots

  1. Wasnt this the robot everybody was saying would kill us all back in 2009? The only thing I could see going wrong would be if it thought you were a cue ball. On the break.

  2. God I love the design of this bot. Playing pool is pretty cool, but, it’s been done. They should have ‘taught’ their PR2 to iron shirts, that would’ve made them famous.

  3. They stated right out front that they do this to keep themselves thinking outside of boxes. If the only tool you have is a hammer, the only solution you will have is to smash things. This kind brainstorming often gives you surprisingly effective ways of tackling problems that you would not normally think of. In addition to that, you also train others on your team to not be so skeptical of other ideas.

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