Baseball-Tossing Robot Set for Big League Debut

How fitting that on Self-Aware Day — the day in Terminator canon that Skynet officially went online, setting in motion the chain of events that led to a craptastic reboot-sequel starring Christian Bale — that we get word of robots wanting to muscle in on the business of big-league baseball pitching.




Indeed, that’s what’ll be happening before Wednesday afternoon’s game at Citizens Bank Park, when the Phillies host the Milwaukee Brewers. It’s part of a larger promotion the Phillies are putting on for Science Day at the Ballpark. And yeah, Phillies co-ace Cliff Lee will be taking the mound eventually, but the real attraction will be PhillieBot, which will throw out the ceremonial first pitch before Lee steps up to do his thing.

It took only six weeks or so for engineers at the University of Pennsylvania’s General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception Laboratory to cobble together the necessary parts and write enough code to get PhillieBot season-ready — its own “spring training,” if you will — but everything came together in time for one final test yesterday. Tom Avril of the Philadelphia Inquirer described it:

At the touch of a button, the robot’s silvery jointed arm reared back and then moved steadily toward home plate. At the top of its delivery — somewhat sooner than a human pitcher would do — the robot shot the ball homeward with a flick of its mechanical wrist….

The robot’s computer brain can be infinitely tweaked to change pitch velocity and trajectory, and its arm is a sleek, programmable instrument that also can be used in surgical and manufacturing applications. Moreover, PhillieBot can move.

The engineers started with a Segway, one of those motorized, two-wheeled vehicles sometimes used by tourists and police patrols. They lopped off the top handlebar portion and replaced it with the robotic arm, made by Barrett Technology Inc. of Cambridge, Mass. They added a third wheel for stability.

As you might guess, PhillieBot’s velocity won’t nearly approach Lee’s low-90s fastball, as no one wants to see anyone get hurt before game time. Instead, PhillieBot will toss the ball at a very comfortable (and very catchable) 30 to 40 mph.