The Japanese have them, the Germans have them, the Vietnamese have them, and now China has them, too: ping pong robots. A team of researchers at Zhejiang University in Eastern China has worked a total of four years to come up with two humanoids that can play ping pong with each other or against human players.

The robots, named Kong and Wu, are 160cm tall, weigh 55kg and feature 30 joints. A high-speed camera that can shoot pictures at 120fps makes sure the robots react in 0.05 to 0.1 seconds and with a precision of 2.5cm to balls coming their way.

Here’s a video showing Kong and Wu in action [CN]:

Via Plastic Pals

The robot mainly consists of two high-performance cameras, a computer and (obviously) arms with which it swings a racket. What’s interesting is that it constantly analyzes the habits of its human opponents, improving its game over time.

But unfortunately, the other player needs to wear of sensors to make the system work (the robot predicts the ball’s trajectory based on data collected from these sensors). The robot’s makers say that when the ball falls within about 20cm of its racket, the ball is returned about 70% of the same time. The robot’s accuracy of prediction is supposedly 20% higher than that of a table tennis novice.

The researchers in Nara are working on boosting the robots accuracy and hope to be able to apply findings to developing more advanced industrial robots.

Sorry for the small picture. We’ll provide a video once video material becomes available.

Built by Ron Kessinger and shown off at a recent maker meetup in Denver, the potentially deadly apparatus looks like the bastard child of a telescope and a harpoon gun.

As if it needs to be said, DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME. Unless you have access to a standard wall socket and a compressed air line, plus all the parts needed to build one of these. In that case, have fun this weekend.

Lethal Pneumatic Ping Pong Ball Gun [TINYenormous via MAKE]

Oh man, I would really like to once again be able to play some ping pong on a regular basis. My kingdom for a larger apartment, money for a ping pong table, and at least one friend in real life! On a somewhat related note, this weird-ass ping pong paddle is intriguing. You wear the entire thing on your hand, which I’d assume makes it an almost spiritual extension of your body.

The paddle apparently “improves accuracy, control and swing… you will notice a more intuitive, natural hit motion and superior backhand.” It’s also good for people with arthritis, “because there is no clenching.” Except, of course, when you’re gnashing your teeth together to deliver a game-point overhead smash, lodging the ball into your grandson’s forehead.

So how much would you pay for a pair of these paddles? If you said $100, then you’re in luck because that’s exactly how much they cost. If that sounds a bit expensive, then maybe you need to get more serious about the game. Or perhaps you could consider the nice extras – a carrying case, two wristbands (schweeeet!), and four ping pong balls – as something of an added value.

PING PONG PADDLE SET [Uncommon Goods via Random Good Stuff]

Vernon Graner of the Austin Robot Group has built a three-story-tall robot in the hopes of “evoking dialogue” and “finding ways to get people excited about technology again.” Mission accomplished, sir. Your gigantic robot is truly a wonder to behold.

Originally unveiled at Maker Faire back in 2007, the robot started as a device to hold a projection screen – of course, right? – but “it kind of got out of hand,” according to Graner.

Geeks Are Sexy [via DVICE]

The Achilles heel of table tennis: people without friends can’t play. Unless you raise the one side of the table, I suppose. But why do that when you can buy an automatic ball-shooting machine?

The Robo-Pong comes in a few different varieties starting at $229 for a basic unit (the 540) or $359 “for intermediate and tournament players” (the 1040) Finally, there’s the Robo-Pong 2040 for $695 (seen in the above video), which recycles the balls you hit back to it, allowing you to play all day and all night. There are also upgrade kits available, so you can start out with the 540 and work your way up as you improve.

Robo-Pong [Company Site via Electricpig via Ubergizmo]

Just one man’s opinion, but I’ve never had any beef with traditional ping pong. If you, however, find yourself longing to play on, say, a round table with five other people (perhaps all wearing mesh jerseys), then this modular ping pong table is for you.

So what about the “modular” part of the modular ping pong table? Well, it can be reconfigured to suit your fancy. Check out the mind-bending configuration below!

In fact, you can put together multiple tables, allowing “1-12 or more players to play table tennis with exciting new game configurations.” Apparently, even conventional ping pong tables can be retrofitted to accommodate your new paddle-happy lifestyle.

The “Table Tennis Triples and Modular Table Tennis System” is currently up for a 2008 Next Big Thing Award. The system was designed by Guenter Arndt and apparently there’s a book in the works with various game configurations and rules (see the website here). There’s a video of some three on three action, found here.

via The Guardian

Ahoy, fellow apartment dwellers. If you’re like me, your apartment, even if roomy, could use more space. I mean, when you’re paying out the rear for a 2 bedroom, where are you going to put your ping pong table? You could just play Wii tennis, but seriously, real ping pong is the way to go.

If you’ve got a doorway, you can now have ping pong. This table — net and all — doubles as a door. It swings open like any standard door, but then rotates forward and back, making a playing surface. It’s sort of a sporty take on the Murphy bed.

And there’s no reason it has to be confined to table tennis. Indeed, in the future, we see air hockey doors, salad bar doors, baby-changing-station doors, operating table doors, even doors that resurrect Axl Rose’s career. Ok, that last one was a joke.

Ping Pong Door [Tekenstein]