9 January 2020

What would you ask your robot ball to do?

Technology giant Samsung unveiled a prototype of its new AI assistant to the world this week, and it looked a lot like a tennis ball. Is it only dogs who should be worried? We have some suggestions for what a robot tennis ball could do for players

Not everyone was entirely comfortable with the idea of an "intelligent" tennis ball following them around despite Samsung's claim that "Ballie improves the quality of your 'me time' and takes care of your loved ones and your home".

Reactions on YouTube to the sceptical ("Lol how is this a thing!? Why is this a thing!?) to the down-right worried ("Who else got a feeling that Ballie has a chance of turning evil?").

But we just got thinking what a tennis robot might do for us players. Here are some of our ideas:

Sorry Dave that ball was in

Tennis balls that make their own calls
Pic By Cryteria - Own work, CC BY 3.0

Exterminate

"Allow me to vaporise your opponent's backhand" - and other match-winning interventions
 [PIC © Copyright Roger A Smith and licensed for reuse under this CC Licence]

Tennis wall-e

A hitting machine with tidy habits - all the balls get back into the hopper under their own steam
[Pic Morgan by CC]

Advantage C-3PO

The Star Wars favourite is a shining example to us all when it comes to upholding standards of etiquette. We expect no less from our Ballie companion.

Taking on officials

Step up the tennis Bender, a Futurama style piece of AI to take on the task of hurling expletives at officials.
[Pic © 2013 Kassy. Licensed under CC-BY.]