Toyota is so unbothered right now. Through the third quarter of 2024, the automaker’s consolidated global revenues are up 5.9 percent. What else is there to do when products are holding steady? Start a side quest to build record-breaking humanoid basketball-playing robots, I guess.
In 2017, nine Toyota engineers volunteered for the CUE project, an AI-learning robot basketball player. From its basic beginnings as computerized components tested via Lego bricks, CUE is now in its sixth iteration, dubbed CUE6.
Looking less like a bunch of blocks and more like a decent-sized power forward or center, CUE now stands six feet and 10 inches tall. Although not yet capable of breaking ankles, the AI-powered baller has broken a couple of Guinness World Records during its hoop dreams journey.
In 2017, CUE3 earned its first Guinness World Records achievement for “most consecutive basketball free throw by a humanoid robot (assisted).” The title is a mouthful, but the feat was impressive. After six hours and 35 minutes, CUE3 had made 2,020 free throws in a row.
The attempt ended at that number not because CUE3 missed but because it coincided with the year of the Tokyo Summer Olympics and Paralympics. But, also, I guess after nearly seven hours of watching a robot shoot swishes, at that point, the sound of a good ol’ Shaq shank against the rim would’ve been pleasant.
After that, the Toyota volunteer team aimed to make CUE more exciting: free movement. During its fourth iteration, CUE could pick up the ball independently and move around on its own version of Heelys. By the time CUE5 came around, the robo-baller was dribbling. Not pro b-baller smooth, but CUE was dribbling and rolling on its own. Still, CUE’s strength remained its shooting accuracy.
“We tried to get CUE to throw like us humans, but it didn’t work well,” CUE project leader Tomohiro Nomi told Guinness World Records. “Instead, CUE figured out its own effective throwing style using artificial intelligence based on based on the robot’s structure. That’s why CUE throws with the form you see now.”
And that self-taught form is what got the CUE team to set its eyes on another world record: the farthest basketball shot (by a humanoid robot). The record for farthest ever is actually held by a human. Joshua Walker, a basketball coach from Louisiana, broke that record, along with four others, on a single day in July 2022. The ultimate shot caller blasted the rock into the net from a distance of 34.6 meters (113 ft 6 in).
CUE6 wasn’t planning on taking anything away from Walker since it basically had a category all to itself that, for reasons such as having organs and a cardiovascular system, Walker could never qualify for. CUE6’s shot would come from 24.55 m (80 ft 6 in) from the arc. Could it be a showoff and make the shot in a single attempt when Walker apparently needed several?
Doink.
CUE6 missed on its first try. But, yeah, no further drama ensued because, on shot number two, the basketball softly banked off the rear of the rim and fell through the net. Play the shot clock buzzer because that game is now over. It’s a hell of a distance for anyone and anything. Steph Curry could probably do it, but why compete with a robot that can’t touch your passing finesse or dribbling skills? Not today, anyway.
What is next for CUE? Nomi wants it to dunk.
“I want to create something fun, and with the power of craftsmanship, I want to show that Japan’s still got a lot under its sleeve,” he said. “The next step is for the robot to be able to run. And ultimately, I want to see a robot dunking like Michael Jordan. If something like that exists, I would love to see it.”
His Airness, but built by AI? What kind of hangtime could a robot basketball player even have? Considering the future tech progress the Toyota CUE team has achieved during its spare time, we might actually witness a basketball-dunking robot before we get GTA VI.