On December 4, Guinness World Records announced footage of Toyota’s CUE6 humanoid robot making a basketball shot from a distance of 24.55 m.
The performance was conducted in Nagakute, Aichi, Japan on September 26, marking the second Guinness World Record achieved by Toyota’s humanoid robot equipped with artificial intelligence, CUE. This is the farthest basketball throw ever by a humanoid robot.
In 2017, in their free time, 9 Toyota volunteers developed CUE as a basketball playing robot using AI. Over the years, CUE has continuously improved its accuracy and throwing range. In January 2020, CUE showed off its skills in the three-point shooting competition at the All-Star game of the B.League basketball tournament. On December 24, 2022, the 6th generation, CUE6, was introduced during halftime of the match between Alvark Tokyo and Shiga Lakes.
Not only does it have an impressive appearance, CUE is also very smart. Thanks to AI, it can recognize patterns, learn from mistakes and immediately adjust posture, hand position, and throwing force. In 2019, the third generation robot, CUE3, set the first Guinness World Record by completing 2,020 consecutive free throws. Engineers have ended the show, although some say it could have gone on for much longer.
Over time, CUE’s capabilities expanded significantly. From making simple free throws, the robot can receive the ball, position itself, and make shots from the three-point line and beyond. Later versions even pick up the ball itself, throw it from different positions, move it on wheels and dribble it.
To set a new record, CUE6 received significant upgrades such as modifying the hands and adding a foot camera to better detect ball movement. The first shot missed a bit and bounced off the rim, but the second shot was successful at a distance of 24.55 m. Meanwhile, the record for the farthest basketball throw by a human is 34.6 m.
In addition to setting a record, the CUE development team at Toyota also wanted to demonstrate the robot’s skills and creativity. In the future, they want to develop a robot that can perform complex basketball skills, such as dunks.