Toyota robot can’t slam dunk but shoots a mean 3-pointer

TOKYO – It can’t dribble, let alone slam dunk, yet Toyota’s basketball robot hardly ever misses a free throw or 3-pointer.

The 207-centimetre (six-foot, 10-inch) tall machine made 5 of 8 3-point shots in a demonstration in a Tokyo suburb Monday, a ratio its engineers say is worse than usual.

Toyota Motor Corp.’s robot, called Cue 3, computes as a three-dimensional image where the basket is, using sensors on its torso, and adjusts motors inside its arm and knees to give the shot the right angle and propulsion for a swish.

Efforts in developing human-shaped robots underline a global shift in robotics use from pre-programmed mechanical arms in limited places like factories to functioning in the real world with people.

The 2017 version of the robot was designed to make free throws.