German Robot Plays Pool

Thomas Nierhoff, a masters student at the Technische Universität München (TUM) programmed a humanoid robot to play pool. Of course we have seen PR2 play pool in the past but this robot does not need any special accessories to hold the pool cue. As shown in the video below, the robot can be very accurate and even the pool table can be augmented with the software developed for the robot in order to help humans play better.

We are eager to see this new contestant play against PR2, this could sprout a new kind of robotic competition.