Robot ‘quadrocopters’ play a real life game of Pong

By Jeffrey Van Camp Published March 30, 2011

robots_three_quadrocopters — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Here’s something you don’t see every day. Researchers in Switzerland have designed small, remote control “quadrocopters” capable of seeing and reacting fast enough to bounce a ball back and forth. Equipped with a tennis racket on top of them, the duo bounces the ball around a netted-off section of a Swiss building. Both units are controlled by humans, but could theoretically be programmed as well. Unfortunately, no program is fast enough to play pong in real life, yet.

The quadrocopters are capable of synchronized choreography, acrobatic tricks, and extremely precise movements. They were developed by the Switzerland Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control (via Crave). Check out this second video to learn more about the copters and the arena built to house them. If you’d like to see more crazy robots, check out these crawling robots that can rebuild themselves.

Recommended Videos

It’s good to know that after robots take over the world, at least they’ll know how to have a little fun as they fly around our decimated world.

Jeffrey Van Camp

Former Deputy Editor

As DT's Deputy Editor, Jeff helps oversee editorial operations at Digital Trends. Previously, he ran the site's…

Topics

Emerging Tech

Scammers are teaching AI to sound like you, and research says our brains are falling for it

Has your accent just become a security vulnerability? AI scammers are getting too good at sounding local

Scammers are turning trusted news brands into investment traps

The next scam call you receive may not sound like a robot, a call center, or even someone pretending to be your relative. AI voice generators have become capable of reproducing regional accents and dialects that sound convincing enough that researchers are warning they could become a potent social-engineering tool.

For example, a scammer could use an accent familiar to a targeted community to make a suspicious call sound considerably more trustworthy.

Emerging Tech

Scientists found a way to turn plastic bottles into cookies you can actually eat

hand holding a cookie

Plastic bottles and cookies rarely show up in the same sentence, but a team of researchers just gave us a reason to talk about both together. According to Science Daily, scientists at Southern Illinois University Carbondale have engineered yeast that can turn waste from plastic bottles and old crop leftovers into real food ingredients and create cookies.

The work began as part of a NASA program exploring how astronauts might produce their own food during deep space missions, since resupply runs from Earth aren't exactly realistic that far out. The researchers' big insight was simple: plastic bottles are packed with carbon, and so, as it turns out, is food. That single connection became the foundation for everything that followed.

Computing

Students who use AI every day may be falling behind, while moderate users pull ahead

New global testing data suggests more AI in the classroom isn't automatically better.

I assumed more AI access might help students learn faster. However, a new OECD study dispels that misconception for me and everyone else who gave their children a paid version of AI chatbots, thinking it would help them through their educational journey.

According to PISA 2025 data from 760,000 students in 91 countries, students who use AI daily score meaningfully worse on standardized tests than their peers. The full picture is more complicated than a simple ban would fix.