# @anik on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DY4_PCiujET
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/66173200-anik-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/3c4f111921.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-05-28T17:19:14.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Anik Singal (@anik) — https://gondola.cc/anik

## Caption

Sony just built a robot that beat professional athletes.

Not at chess. Not at a video game. At table tennis — under official International Table Tennis Federation rules.

The robot is called Ace. It played five rounds against elite players. It won three of them. For the first time in history, an autonomous robot has beaten professionals at a competitive physical sport.

Here's how it actually works:

1) 9 cameras track the ball in 3D from every angle
2) 3 more cameras zoom into the logo on the ball mid-flight just to read its spin
 3) Total reaction time: 20 milliseconds — 10x faster than a human
4) The arm swings at 20 metres per second, matching professional drive shots

And here's the part that genuinely got me. Ace never learned from a single human. No coaches. No demos. It played 3,000 hours against itself in simulation until it became unbeatable.

At one point, it returned a shot that should have been impossible. 1992 Olympian Kinjiro Nakamura was watching from the sidelines. 

He said he didn't think it was possible — then admitted something that stayed with me.

If a robot can do it, maybe a human can too.

Share this with someone who still thinks robots can't compete with humans physically.

Save this — this is one of those moments worth remembering.

#SonyRobotics #Anik #AIvsHuman #RoboticsAI #FutureTech

## Stats

- **Views:** 1,472
- **Likes:** 102
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 2

## Tags

aivshuman, sonyrobotics, futuretech, anik, roboticsai

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