Playing a table tennis match against an expert

This is the first machine to hold a rally at expert level in a physical sport that ordinary people play, on standard equipment and under the rules of the game. The elite opponents had ten years of practice behind them and trained around twenty hours a week; the robot read spin up to 450 radians a second and returned more than three quarters of it. The two professionals beat it, which is where the line sits today. Sony has since reported private matches in December 2025 and March 2026 with wins over professionals, and those results have not been published or refereed, so they do not move the status. The table is also the friendliest physical world there is: fixed dimensions, one known ball, an opponent required by the rules to stay on the far side.