A robot designed by a team of engineers for Toyota has set a new Guinness World Record. The Cue3 robot was able tomake 2,020 consecutive free throwsin six hours and thirty-five minutes.
The team started working on the robot in 2017 and realized that their task was much more complicated than they first imagined. They had to precisely place the basketball in the robot's hands for each shot. Even the slightest change could cause the robot to miss the shot. Another challenge they had was getting the robot to reset to the exact position after each throw. They also had to worry about the position of the rim, which could be altered by the basketball.
After nearly two years, and multiple failures, the six-foot, 10-inch robot was ready for its chance in the history books. The team decided to go for 2,020 consecutive free throws as a nod to the 2020 Olympics which will be held in Tokyo, Japan.
After a nerve-racking day, the team of engineers could finally celebrate after Cue3 set the record for "most consecutive basketball free throws by a humanoid robot (assisted) - 2020."
"For this record attempt, we remained members of Toyota but also collaborated with a professional sports team, and embarked on a challenge that no one else had undertaken; we engaged seriously in manufacturing in the form of robot development; and, as adults, we devoted ourselves to a single goal and rejoiced at achieving our goals,"the team's project leader Tomohiro Nomi said. "We would be delighted if as many people as possible developed an interest in basketball, robots, and manufacturing as a result of watching our efforts."