The Japanese Volleyball association is using a new tactic to improve there volleyball skills. ROBOTIC volleyball blocker. They were created by the researches at the Japanese volleyball association and Tsukuba University. They Consist of 3 robotic blockers with long human like arms. The volleyball comes out of the setters hand and the robots fly across the court faster then a human at about 3.7 meters per second. They can either be controlled by a ipad to block were the coach presses it or be programed for different situations. Six players from the Japanese women’s team had training sessions of 8 days and said they only felt little difference from a real life game. Even though they sound all amazing they are they are programed to be in a certain place at a certain time, if the drill is misplaces even by the slightest the drill is uneffective. So what do you think about the robotic blockers re they effective are they not. I personally think it is a good tool to have but I would still rather practice on human blockers because that’s what I will face in the game. This relates to engineering because if you did not engineer the robots or build them then you could not even use them in the first place.

Related articles:

https://www.engadget.com/2017-04-13-japan-s-volleyball-team-test-their-spikes-against-robot-blockers.html

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2127679-robot-volleyball-machine-helps-japan-team-practise-attacks/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&campaign_id=RSS%7CNSNS-

https://www.sporttechie.com/robot-block-machine-for-volleyball-training-can-mimic-human-blockers/