Robots face hand-eye challenge in pitch-pot debut at Beijing games

Pitch-pot, or Touhu, a traditional Chinese ritual sport, will make its competitive debut at the 2nd World Humanoid Robot Games, bringing a playful cultural twist to the high-tech contest and highlight challenges of fine manipulation and hand-eye coordination in robotic technology.

The games will be held in Beijing from Aug. 22 to 26, showcasing over 2,000 robots from more than 600 teams across 16 countries and regions, marking a fourfold increase in participation since last year’s inaugural edition. In the pitch-pot competition, robots will attempt to throw arrows into a pot with a 13-centimeter opening positioned 1.5 meters from the throwing line. Each robot has three minutes to grasp and accurately throw the arrows, a task designed to rigorously test hand-eye coordination, visual recognition, upper-limb trajectory planning, and grip stability.

"There are three primary challenges in pitch-pot. First, the robot must accurately judge distances in its environment for clear visibility. Second, it needs to grip the arrow with precision and stability. Finally, the robot must throw with accuracy, requiring optimal force and stability. This entails explosive power and precise angle calculations, leveraging a 'smart brain' to compute distance, force, and positioning effectively," said Zuo Jiaping, co-founder of Linkerbot Technology Co., Ltd.

In addition to pitch-pot, the games will feature other dexterous-hand tasks such as powder weighing and power tool assembly.

For the powder-weighing task, robots must scoop powder with a spoon and place it on an electronic scale until the total reaches 20 grams. Performance will be judged by the time taken to complete the task while maintaining milligram-level precision despite the powder's tricky physical properties.

The power-tool assembly event will test robots' ability to drive standard screws into designated holes with an electric screwdriver. Scores will be based on the number of screws successfully driven in five minutes, with valid attempts requiring proper alignment and no damage to the screw hole.

Robots face hand-eye challenge in pitch-pot debut at Beijing games

Ernesto Soberon Guzman, Cuba's permanent representative to the United Nations (UN), strongly criticized the United States’ unilateral coercive measures against the island nation during a Security Council's open debate on Wednesday, warning that any "military adventure" against Cuba will trigger immeasurable repercussions.

He denounced the United States for undermining the Security Council's mandate of safeguarding international peace and security through threats of force, interference in other countries' internal affairs and imposition of unilateral coercive measures.

Such moves have severely eroded multilateralism, as well as the credibility and legitimacy of the United Nations, he stressed.

Guzman also pointed out that the US has continuously included Cuba in the list of "state sponsors of terrorism" and imposed a slew of restrictive measures targeting Cuba's strategic sectors covering economy, energy and public health.

The Cuban envoy called on the UN Security Council to fulfill its primary responsibility for maintaining global peace and security as well as issued a stern warning over potential military provocations.

"We issue a warning once again at this meeting. Once a military adventure against Cuba is launched, the consequences will be immeasurable. It will not only affect Cuba and the US, but also jeopardize peace, security, and stability in the Western Hemisphere and even the entire world," he said.

Cuban envoy condemns US sanctions