Playing pool with a dual-armed robot

Abstract

This video presents a robot capable of playing pool on a normal sized pool table using two arms. For successfully completing this task several issues need to be addressed, including the perception of relevant environment information, planning of actions and finally an efficient execution. The video outlines how the robot accurately locates the pool table, the balls on the table and the cue and subsequently plans the next shot. In order to improve the stroke speed, an optimization algorithm for the arm configuration is described. Finally, it is shown how all these modules are integrated to achieve a working two-handed robotic pool play.