Toyota’s robot is really good at basketball. And it will only get better thanks to AI. After sinking an over 80-foot basketball shot, Toyota’s hoop prodigy set a new Guinness World Record for the longest basketball shot by a humanoid robot. Check out the impressive shot in the video below.
Although you see plenty of Toyota ads during the big game, the Japanese auto giant isn’t usually the first name that comes to mind when you think of basketball. The company looks to change that with “Cue” the robot.
Cue was first developed in 2017 by a few Toyota volunteers in their free time. By March 2018, the first generation Cue debuted at a home game of the Alvark Tokyo, a professional basketball team in Japan
After it became a social media sensation, Toyota released several new models over the years. In May 2019, “Cue3,” the third-gen model, earned its first Guinness World Record for “The most consecutive basketball free throws by a humanoid robot (assisted),” with 2,020 free throws made.
Since then, the AI basketball-loving robot has been steadily improving its skills, such as shooting three-point shots, dribbling, and making free throws.
As Toyota’s robot continued improving, the company set its sights on a bigger goal: to make the longest basketball shot by a humanoid robot. On September 26, 2024, Toyota’s CUE6 sunk an 80 ft 6 in shot in Nagakute, Japan, securing its second Guinness World Record title.
On its first attempt, CUE’s shot hit the rim and bounced back at him. On its second attempt, Toyota’s robot nailed the shot. You can watch the shot and learn more about Toyota’s basketball-loving robot in the Guinness World Records video below.
By learning from his mistakes and correcting things like posture, arm position, and shot strength, Cue continues to improve over time.
Tomohiro Nomi, Toyota’s CUE project leader, said, “Using Artificial Intelligence based on robot structure, it learned and thought of the throwing style that would be the most effective.”
Source: Guinness World Records
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