Table tennis robots. Share your expierience

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Hi everyone. did not find where to post this, so I will ask here. My coach asked me to look for some info about different table tennis robots. He wants to purchase one or two (have no idea) for our training. And I do not know anything about any of them and what's the difference, so just thought someone could share his experience. I found the list but can't post it, please let me know if you had experience with any. The problem is I also have no idea what's the budget. Will ask him tomorrow and let you know; as I see the price varies from $90 to $650. Not sure he's ready to spend $650 on one machine.
 
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I don’t have one yet but I already did a good research since I’m gonna buy myself one as soon as I move to my new house.

For me there is 3 very important things:

1- It has to have 3 wheels! A robot that does all kind of spins is essential.
2- Ball capacity. You don’t wanna to refill every 10 balls.
3- Durability.

The butterfly Amicus looks great but is way to expensive. The Trainerbot looks very promising but has a very good chance to be a scam. The Tennirobo from Sergey is probably the best choice: https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/fo...-tennis-robot-in-compact-size&highlight=Robot
 
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And reading now about TenniRobo. Seems like a great one but the app looks pretty complicated
 
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I have IPong V300, $125 at Amazon. It is a fairly basic robot with two wheels. I would guess that anybody under USATT 2000 could benefit from using it.

One problem with robots is that they break. IR-remote for mine broke after 1.5 year of moderate use.

Well, That's not an option, then. We'll work with it several times a week for 2 hours.
 
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I have had two robots, first one was from paddle palace, it was around $1400 I believe. Overall it was okay, durable, but quite boring to practice against as it can't vary the spin in a sequence even though it could do all the spin. Setup was too tedious to change back and forth, so I end up practice on one or two settings all the time.

Last year, I purchased the Amicus Prime from Butterfly during their BF sale (10% off), it was still kind expansive (~2100), but worth it in my opinion. The programming through an app (bluetooth connection, and included a very basic android tablet for control, you can use your phone too) was more useful than I thought. Able to visually see and quickly adjust the spin and position is very helpful. Since it can control position and spin at every shot in the sequence, it allows for much more realistic drills, ie: a short underspin serve to the middle, followed by a long push to the left side, then 2-3 top spin ball to the middle/right.
 
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I have IPong V300, $125 at Amazon. It is a fairly basic robot with two wheels. I would guess that anybody under USATT 2000 could benefit from using it.

One problem with robots is that they break. IR-remote for mine broke after 1.5 year of moderate use.

I should clarify that the remote was dropped countless time so the operator should share the blame. Still it should not have broken in my opinion. The robot itself is still working. But since there is no alternative way of operating it, one must get a new remote.

The robot has a few quirks but it does do the job. V300 is a perfect starter robot and it is easy to get your money worth. A simple robot could help one in deciding what functionality should be included in the second robot (and at what price).

The second problem with robots is that >90% of them just collect dust :cool: .
 
I have the Newgy 2050. Outdated as it only spins one way at a time (can't change spins mid-drill). I also find the level of spin to be ridiculously unrealistic. With that said, since it has those limitations on it, it is best used for footwork rather than stroke development. It will move me in and out/left and right. It's good in that sense. You can adjust speed, how fast it feeds, and set it for a specific number of balls or a set period of time. The catch net is also nice for serve practice.

I'd like to get on a newer robot to see if it changes my opinion of them.
 
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I have this. Works great with the plastic balls (some older robots not so much)
https://amzn.to/2PsJqbZ


Sub $200. Has 2 wheels so it can shoot you no-spin. An inexpensive trainer that'll get the job done. You're welcome.

Personally I wouldn't recommend putting too much $$$ into a robot. They're good for getting reps in but will never equal actual play with a good training partner or coach.
 
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Brs

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Brs

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Don't. The only reason for a robot is so one player can train alone. If you have two or more people feed multiball or block.
 

Brs

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Brs

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Not everybody has easy access to partners. Even with good partner availability, a robot could be a nice complement.
True, but the OP says it is a coach lookng for a robot to use with students. Sounds like a group of students, or why couldn't the coach feed only one guy himself? Teach the students to train each other instead of buying a robot. Best coaching you could give to start off.
 
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People can develop some pretty bad technical habits with robots. Use carefully.
 
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People can develop some pretty bad technical habits with robots. Use carefully.

Do you have some particular bad habits in mind that are mostly likely to develop when using a robot?
Or is it simply the substitution of a machine in place of a coach/partner that is the main risk factor. [I.e., the machine can't give you feedback.]
 
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Do you have some particular bad habits in mind that are mostly likely to develop when using a robot?
Or is it simply the substitution of a machine in place of a coach/partner that is the main risk factor. [I.e., the machine can't give you feedback.]

The thing I have seen most is people not getting good weight transfer or body rotation (kind of leaning backward when they hit the ball). Also no tactical context for the shots they hit (robot doesn't care if you hit a bad shot, just sends you another ball). More generally, wwhatever technical flaw you may have gets reinforced training with a robot as you simply do it again and again and again. Video yourself sometimes at a minimum to make sure you are not just reinforcing something really ugly.

First time I ever saw someone training with a robot I was pretty convinced no good would come from it.

If it's a choice between the robot and not hitting the ball at all because of where you live? OK, maybe then but take my advice about using video also.
 
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