Amicus prime does reverse the motors for extra topspin and backspin.
brokenball;331762
Can the throw wheels spin backwards? This is important because most of the robots do not allow the throw wheels to counter rotate. Obviously it is bad if all the throw wheels counter rotate at the same time.
HOWEVER
If you want to simulate a real loop the top throw wheel must rotate in the normal direction fast while the bottom throw wheel rotates backwards. This causes a high spin to speed ratio. Obviously the top head can be made to spin backwards while the bottom head spin in the normal way to create have back spin serves or chops.
I have a newgy 2050 and it is OK for exercise but I would not recommend one for the serious TT players because there is only one throw wheel and a friction pad which means the spin to speed ratio is fixed.
To brokenball;331767,
The Amicus Prime can indeed “reverse the motors for extra topspin and backspin” to “simulate slow but very spinny loops”.
To answer your question, the following two paragraphs are quoted verbatim from an article entitled “Long Review: Butterfly Amicus Prime Robot” written by Larry Thoman (Butterfly USA's in-house robot guru and former General Manager at Newgy). This article can be found on the Megaspin website. This quote is found towards the VERY END of the article—6 paragraphs and 5 paragraphs respectively from the end of the article.
Long Review: Butterfly Amicus Prime Robot
By Larry Thoman, Butterfly USA's in-house robot guru and former General Manager at Newgy
“Another control of note is the SPIN CONTROL. This lets you select the DEGREE of TOPSPIN or BACKSPIN. Topspin has 7 degrees of spin from light to extremely heavy. The last two (6 & 7) use WHEEL REVERSAL TO PRODUCE THE HEAVIEST SPINS. For backspin, there are 5 degrees of spin with 4 & 5 using WHEEL REVERSAL TO PRODUCE HEAVY SPIN. (AMICUS has WHEEL REVERSAL.)
REVERSING THE OPPOSING WHEEL(S) INCREASES SPIN AND DECREASES SPEED. This allows the Prime to use the full range of the speed/spin spectrum from approximately 10/90 speed/spin to 100/0. If robots don't reverse the opposing wheel(s), then they are limited in their speed/spin spectrum from approximately 50/50 to 100/0. So the Prime can throw shots like slow loops, ghost serves, or heavy floating chops where spin is very heavy but speed is very slow. IF A ROBOT DOES NOT REVERSE ITS WHEEL(S), THEN IT CANNOT PRODUCE SUCH SHOTS.”
I hope that answers your question.