Olympic table tennis bronze medalist Jun Mizutani of Japan took on a different type of challenger on Monday — FORPHEUS, a machine.
FORPHEUS wasn’t quite high-tech enough to handle Mizutani’s normal attacking play, according to Agence France-Presse.
Video clips show the bronze medalist in a light hitting session with the robot.
“It wasn’t any different form playing a human,” Mizutani said, according to an Olympic Channel translation. “It kept getting better as we played. To be honest, I wanted to play it at its maximum level to see how good it is. If it evolves further, it might be a very good practice partner for table tennis players.”
FORPHEUS, introduced in 2015, was given the Guinness World Records title in February for being the first robot table tennis tutor.
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