The Toyota robot is very good at basketball. And it will only get better because of AI. After dunking an 80-meter basketball, a Toyota hoop maker has set a new Guinness World Record for the longest basketball shot by a humanoid robot. Check out the impressive footage in the video below.
Although you see a lot of Toyota commercials during the big game, the Japanese auto giant isn't usually a name that comes to mind when you think of basketball. The company is looking to change that with the “Cue” robot.
Cue was first developed in 2017 by a few Toyota volunteers in their free time. In March 2018, the first generation Cue debuted at a home game for Alvark Tokyo, a professional basketball team in Japan.
After becoming the talk of the town on social media, Toyota has released many new models over the years. In May 2019, “Cue3,” a third-generation model, earned its first Guinness World Record for “Most consecutive basketball free throws made by a humanoid (assisted) robot,” with 2,020 free throws.
Since then, the basketball-loving AI robot has been gradually improving its skills, such as shooting three-pointers, driving, and making free throws.
As Toyota's robot continued to develop, 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 sank an 80 ft 6 gun in Nagakute, Japan, earning its second Guinness World Record title.
On its first attempt, CUE's shot hit the rim and bounced back to him. On its second attempt, the Toyota robot nailed it. You can watch the shot and learn more about Toyota's basketball-loving robot Guinness World Records video below.
By learning from his mistakes and making adjustments to things like positioning, arm position, and shot strength, Cue continues to get better over time.
Tomohiro Nomi, the CUE program leader at Toyota, said, “Using Artificial Intelligence based on robotics, it learned and thought out the most efficient throwing method.”
Source: Guinness World Records
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