OT - Would you ever watch Robot Baseball?
Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 7:34 pm
First of all, I love the game of baseball. I played it most of my childhood and teenage years and I still watch as much of it as I can.
Having said that, I'm nowhere near the baseball fan that I am basketball or football. This is my first time following a baseball prospects discussion intently and it's been really interesting to read about about in-depth player analysis because it almost makes us sound like Consumer Reports and the players are the latest robot models we're reviewing:
ie: "The _____ model pitcher created by Panasonic has a lot of the excellent features you'd look for in a high end pitcher, namely velocity and control, but upon further investigation there's a lot to dislike about this model. We've analyzed the way it throws and have detected that there's a very good chance it will break down within 3-5 years. Its lever is poorly designed and likely won't stand up over time. The tests and analysis we conducted also showed that it failed the "right handed batter test." In 768 times out of 1000 its results were far behind the competition in this field.
Recommendation: Avoid
1991 NES video game "Base Wars" is largely the basis for this post
Baseball's very unique in its design featuring highly specialized roles and it's for that reason that I got to thinking... Could there ever be a robot baseball league? And if so... could it ever be fun to watch? I personally think it could be and here's why:
1) GMing/coaching would invovle programmers so only the best progammers would field winning teams.
2) People would still man the controls on defence, changing the emphasis from physical, genetic advantages into visual perception and basic hand-eye coordination.
3) Hitters could be computer assisted to track balls and adjust the bat speed to attempt to put the ball to certain strategic locations.
4) Fielding would be fun and hilarious as people controlled their robots to field and/or throw project the ball at rapid speeds to other robots covering certain bases.
5) Money advantages on certain teams could be overcome with ingenuity and intelligent design.
I know it sounds insanely far fetched but I think baseball is one of the few sports that could effectively be played with robots while still putting on a fun and interesting show. At some point in the distant future... if this existed... would you ever watch?
Having said that, I'm nowhere near the baseball fan that I am basketball or football. This is my first time following a baseball prospects discussion intently and it's been really interesting to read about about in-depth player analysis because it almost makes us sound like Consumer Reports and the players are the latest robot models we're reviewing:
ie: "The _____ model pitcher created by Panasonic has a lot of the excellent features you'd look for in a high end pitcher, namely velocity and control, but upon further investigation there's a lot to dislike about this model. We've analyzed the way it throws and have detected that there's a very good chance it will break down within 3-5 years. Its lever is poorly designed and likely won't stand up over time. The tests and analysis we conducted also showed that it failed the "right handed batter test." In 768 times out of 1000 its results were far behind the competition in this field.
Recommendation: Avoid
1991 NES video game "Base Wars" is largely the basis for this post
Baseball's very unique in its design featuring highly specialized roles and it's for that reason that I got to thinking... Could there ever be a robot baseball league? And if so... could it ever be fun to watch? I personally think it could be and here's why:
1) GMing/coaching would invovle programmers so only the best progammers would field winning teams.
2) People would still man the controls on defence, changing the emphasis from physical, genetic advantages into visual perception and basic hand-eye coordination.
3) Hitters could be computer assisted to track balls and adjust the bat speed to attempt to put the ball to certain strategic locations.
4) Fielding would be fun and hilarious as people controlled their robots to field and/or throw project the ball at rapid speeds to other robots covering certain bases.
5) Money advantages on certain teams could be overcome with ingenuity and intelligent design.
I know it sounds insanely far fetched but I think baseball is one of the few sports that could effectively be played with robots while still putting on a fun and interesting show. At some point in the distant future... if this existed... would you ever watch?
