I mean, the San Antonio Spurs have done pretty well with one robot for the past 18 years. Why not a second that's been taught how to bomb away from 3-point land by reserve marksman Marco Belinelli?
That is the Comau RACER, a small-payload robot produced by an Italian company (hence Marco) that specializes in welding automation. Its motion was purportedly designed to emulate human muscles and nerves, topped by what is wonderfully described as "a powerful arm, agile and sinuous like a feline." Given that, maybe Comau should've rung up Kobe to endorse it. Then again, Belinelli's both a better long-range shooter and probably less expensive than his fellow Italian, so maybe this all worked out for the best.
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For Comau, the shooting exhibition and competition acts as something of a proof of concept for non-hoops industries on a couple of levels.
"We want to communicate how our robot is cooperating close to a human being without any safety [measures], yet being safe," Comau COO Mathias Wiklund says in an accompanying clip. "[...] When it comes to the technology in this one, it might not seem like it is a lot in here, but one has to realize that the robot is actually coordinating its motion according to Marco Belinelli to be able to accelerate and de-accelerate with his movements, which requires quite a lot of work behind it."
If Racer was "actually coordinating its motion" with Belinelli's, then let's thank heaven that the robot only has one "hand" and doesn't know how to dance. I'm sure Comau wouldn't have wanted to deal with a $15,000 (or €11,982) fine just for making a commercial.
The robot appears to have performed admirably enough in the shooting competition against Belinelli, who ranked fifth in the NBA in 3-point accuracy last season and has made five of his first eight 3-point tries for San Antonio thus far this season, but for me, Racer's most impressive feature was the ability to throw decent bounce passes. That could be valuable when acting as a facilitator in the pick-and-roll, provided Racer's controller is able to keep its pivoting, swinging arm from clocking passing defenders to pick up offensive fouls. You can't make a robotic difference if you can't stay out of foul trouble, after all. And what about the suction cups implanted in Racer's claw to hang onto the ball? That can't be legal, can it? Feels like Joey Crawford would have a problem with that.
Potential infractions aside, the smooth-moving dishing represents a demonstrable advancement beyond previous basketball-playing robots like the ones our own Eric Freeman has tirelessly documented in the past. But while Eric has long been a booster of such bionic advancements, hoping against hope for a "Real Steel"-style NBA in our lifetime, I'm more concerned about what turning things over to automatons with endlessly repeatable mechanics — beyond Kyle Korver and Ray Allen, I mean — will mean for the soul of the game. Does Racer dream of electric dunks? *Can* it? Until we know the answer, perhaps we should let robots stick to up-close welding while Marco and his mates handle the long-distance flamethrowing.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
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