Sony AI’s Project Ace autonomous robot becomes first to beat pro table tennis players

Sony AI has unveiled a major robotics milestone with Project Ace, an autonomous system that competes with elite human table tennis players. The announcement marks a rare breakthrough in physical AI. Robots have long dominated digital games. Real-world sports, however, remained out of reach due to speed and unpredictability. Ace changes that. For years, AI excelled in virtual environments like chess and racing simulations. Physical interaction posed a harder problem. It requires split-second sensing, planning, and movement. Ace builds on earlier work like Gran Turismo Sophy. That system mastered high-speed racing in simulation. Ace brings similar intelligence into the physical world. Sony AI combined advanced sensors, reinforcement learning, and precision robotics. The system tracks fast-moving objects and reacts in milliseconds. Table tennis pushes these limits. The sport demands speed, spin control, and rapid adaptation. “This research has shown that an autonomous robot can, in fact, win at a competitive sport, matching or exceeding the reaction time and decision making of humans in a physical space,” said Peter Dürr, Director of Sony AI in Zürich, and project lead for Ace. “Table tennis is a game of enormous complexity that requires split-second decisions as well as speed and power. This research breakthrough highlights the potential of physical AI agents to perform real-time interactive tasks, and represents a significant step toward creating robots with broader applications in fast, precise, and real-time human interactions.” Engineering for extreme speed Ace relies on a dense sensing system. It uses nine high-speed cameras to track the ball’s 3D position. Additional event-based sensors capture spin and angular velocity in real time. The system pairs this with reinforcement learning. It does not rely on fixed rules. Instead, it adapts during play. This allows flexible responses to unpredictable shots. The robot also uses high-speed actuators for precise movemen…