John Paul M. Joaquin Science 06.24.2022 06:Jun AM EDT

[WATCH] Have You Ever Seen a Robot Play Basketball?

Did you know (or remember) that robots were seen playing basketball before?

That's right. Humanoid robots have been witnessed draining free throws, 3-pointers, and half-court shots without missing a beat.

Although the feat seems impressive, it would take years or even decades before humans play against robots in an actual basketball game. (let's hope they go easy on us!)

But thoughts about the future aside, robots playing basketball (or at least shooting hoops) did happen, and in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, no less.

Here's a recap of what happened:

Japan's Hoop-Shooting Robots

(Photo : THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images)
Toyota's CUE4 robot preparing to shoot a basketball.

It was during the half-time break of the basketball Olympics match between the US and France that the robots were seen doing feats not many humans can do.

During that time, Japanese automaker Toyota took advantage of the pause to showcase its "CUE" robots, according to Screen Rant. These robots were created in 2018, with them being designed to shoot hoops with accuracy and precision compared to the best human players.

NBC described the CUE robots in its article as having hands the size of Kawhi Leonard's and shooting times longer than Giannis Antetokounmpo at the free-throw line. However, every single one of the shots went in without missing a beat.

It also helps that Cue is 6ft. 10 inches tall and weighs 165 pounds, which makes it a "prime basketball player" on paper.

CUE uses sensors in its torso to determine how far the hoop is from its position to determine the best angle and power to make the shot go in the hoop. As such, its free throws, 3-pointers, and half-court shots have a shooting accuracy of almost 100%

The drawback is that CUE takes 10 to 15 seconds to do those calculations in between each shot to pick up the ball, determine the best angle and power, and shoot the ball.

That's not the only drawback either. Though it can shoot hoops as far as from half court, it can't dribble, dunk, jump, and move as fast as a human basketball player.

These drawbacks mean that we won't be seeing CUE robots playing against the best basketball players the world has to offer anytime soon.

Toyota's 'Cue' Diary

(Photo : Toyota Motor Corporation)
The Toyota Engineering Society and CUE4 accepting the Guinness Book of World Records title of "Most consecutive basketball free throws by a humanoid robot (assisted)" for successfully draining 2,020 free throws.

Despite the drawbacks of the robot, Toyota is still impressed with CUE's success on the basketball court for a side project that Toyota volunteers did in their free time, according to the Toyota Times.

Believe it or not, CUE was heavily inspired by a character from Takehiko Inoue's popular manga-turned-anime "SLAM DUNK," specifically, the red-haired hot-head, Hanamichi Sakuragi.

According to the publication, a team member of the Toyota Engineering Society (TES) recited one of Sakuragi's quotes asking his coach if "will 20,00 practice shots be enough?" in 2017. The quote led to light bulbs lighting up, with the idea of "wouldn't it be amazing if we developed a robot that used AI to calculate the distance to the basket so that it never missed a shot?" being born from it.

Since then, production of that robot began even if it was a side project. Come 2018, the first CUE robot was born. It was even registered as a professional player for Alvark Tokyo, the first of its kind.

However, the TES team members didn't stop there. it went on to create the CUE 2 and CUE3 robots, each robot being an improved version of its predecessor (CUE2 can bend its knees to shoot 3-pointers, while CUE3 is the first CUE robot to shoot from half-court).

CUE4, the robot featured in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, is equipped with autonomous movement and ball grasping functions. The robot was so capable of shooting hoops that the robot, and the TES team, earned the Guinness Book of World Records title of "Most consecutive basketball free throws by a humanoid robot (assisted)" for making 2020 free throws consecutively.