phdstudentandhuman:

Think your good at air hockey? 

You will lose. 

Scientists in Japan have developed a robot which is unbeatable at air hockey. The robot utilities a camera to track the movement of the puc at 500 frames per second. This means that even at frighteningly quick air hockey strikes (lets say it moves the 1M table in 0.1 seconds) the robot will see 50 frames of where the puc is travelling. Giving it plenty of time to move to attack, block or stay stationary is the shot is going to be ineffective. 

It would be like playing against someone on ketamine, every action being depicted as super-slow-mo.

Not only does the robot have the ability of foresight, it also utilities a very smart adaptive playing style. It uses Motion Pattern Histogram data, which tracts the movement of the opponents paddle and can tell whether the opponent is playing aggressively or defensive over a period of time and can adjust its relative strategy accordingly. 

So, however good you think you are, it will always be better. 

Next thing to do? 

Let a robot play a robot. It could be a never ending 0-0, or depending on how well they adapt it could be a forever tense infinity-infinity. 

It would be interesting after a very long time to see if there was any difference in score. As to say that one previously identical program has developed itself further, or possibly due to the smallest detail such as assembly optimization. 

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/world-of-sport/nobody-stop-air-hockey-robot-090439699.html

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This collection of zooids (dactylozooids (the hunters), gastrozooids (the eaters), gonozooids (the reproducers) and the pneumatophores (the sailors) are more commonly known as the Portuguese Man o’ War. Not much is known about these creatures except that they sting. Aaron Ansarov turned them into beautiful works of psychedelic art, yet remains unharmed. Ansarov and his wife collected them from the shores of south Florida, transported them in a cooler full of sea-water to his nearby studio, photographed them on light tables (mirrored their image in Photoshop), and returned them to the shore, unharmed. To be clear, however, these creatures are on their death bed once they hit the beach. “When they drift ashore,” says Ansarov, “it is rare for them to survive the tide and be pulled back out to sea…sometimes they may get pulled back out, but it’s up to nature’s design.” To see more of Ansarov’s work, visit his website.

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The saga that began in Marvel’s The Avengers continues on TV. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is coming soon to ABC! #CoulsonLives