"Punching Pro" Sparring Robot.

[wikidbounce]

Australian Structural Designer Kris Tressider is developing a sparring aid which punches back. He has videos of his prototype in action.

http://www.youtube.com/user/punchingpro

http://punchingpro.com/

The Punching Pro is an automated sparring partner which is designed to make it trickier to land punches by creating a semi-randomised range of arm movements.

The arms can rotate at varying speeds, on a couple of different planes, so that the torso of the dummy is obscured and you are forced to duck and weave in order to avoid the arms and land a punch.

The head is mounted on a firm spring, so if you hit it, it responds with a similar amount of resistance to a human head.

The Punching Pro's articulated steel arms are driven by two 12-volt windshield wiper motors, which run off mains power. Each arm swivels on a golf-cart-wheel-derived rotational shoulder axis, and incorporates a bending cable-controlled elbow. This feature allows the arms to tuck, swing and extend, not unlike a human's.
The height of the apparatus and the reach of the arms can be adjusted to suit individual users, as can the speed at which the device throws punches. Weights can be added to its base, to keep it stable.
While a cam mechanism ensures that the arms will always swing in a non-conflicting alternating left-right pattern, individual controls for each arm are said to add a degree of unpredictability to the Pro's actions. A third motor can also be added, which introduces random combinations of hooks and jabs to the mix.

A padded torso absorbs what body shots the user is able to get in, while the spring-loaded neck causes the head to snap back when receiving blows. When blocked by the user, the arms pause without affecting the internal timing mechanism – this is said to lower the risk of the device actually harming its human sparring partner.
"I have made recent modifications to the drive system to make the arms a lot more flexible and able to take a lot more punishment," Tressider told Gizmag. "The next step is to start working on the software side of things so that it can change modes automatically (it has hundreds of different modes which are currently changed manually with dials and switches).
I have had some interest from various boxing clubs and other individuals who are keen to test out the robot, and even try to buy one, but really I am still seeking funding or investment to help bring the product to the next level, and to the market."
Ultimately, Kris hopes to be able to sell the Punching Pro for a retail price of under US$1,000.

Looks like some good rockem sockem fun. Hopefully he gets the support he needs to develop it.

[Colin]

I definitely agree. While this kind of training can never replace focus pads or sparring, it can certainly replace static bag drills.

[DAYoung]

Very cool. It'd be nice if the machine had a little more sting to its punches. Like...say...one of these.

[KiwiPhil889]

I don't really see what this has to offer over and above a standard double ended type speed ball. If you have time and money for a giant rock em sock em robot,then a speed ball and a gym would be a better option i would have thought. Additionally the speed ball is nowhere near as predictable movement/striking wise and requires footwork. However, i can see the gimmick crowd taking it up because that "old style" training isn't scientific enough.

I have nothing against new training aids and methods but if they are no better than existing options then why bother??

[Odacon]

I guess... if all your sparring partners are gassed out or sick or something.

[Colin]

I don't really see what this has to offer over and above a standard double ended type speed ball. If you have time and money for a giant rock em sock em robot,then a speed ball and a gym would be a better option i would have thought. Additionally the speed ball is nowhere near as predictable movement/striking wise and requires footwork. However, i can see the gimmick crowd taking it up because that "old style" training isn't scientific enough.

I have nothing against new training aids and methods but if they are no better than existing options then why bother??

To be honest, I hadn't really considered this angle. After reading your position, I would tend to agree.

[milwaukee cop]

keep in mind that this is just a proto-type, it looks promising.

[Sang]

Judging by the location of his chin in those shots, the robot isn't doing its job.

[W. Rabbit]

Ha and they all laughed when I made this thread:
Combat Robotics

This is what I called a "Type IV Sparbot".

I too am working on robot designs for fight training applications, mostly conceptual with a few physics models at this point, but this guy basically built exactly what I have in my engineering tablet for a type IV prototype, except his actuators seem electronic as opposed to pneumatic, which I think is required for more realistic punching/movement.

[W. Rabbit]

Judging by the location of his chin in those shots, the robot isn't doing its job.

The robot has no machine vision so it can't really target anything, and I can't tell just yet whether the actuation is pneumatic or electronic (I think the latter based on movement) but if you watch the arms are just following a programmed pattern. For this thing to actually hit you, you'd have to feed your face to it...but it's 10x faster and more resilient than anything I've seen in the fight training robots out of New Zealand or Japan.

Now, when this guy goes and adds a Kinect sensor or something similar to the top, and is able to program the bot to target points on the human, then we're talking.

As an amateur roboticist I'm already impressed with the speed/mobility of this design.

The striking power will never be that great with electrical actuation, there will be too little acceleration. But if he uses pneumatics (for the reason I discuss in my thread) he'll get stronger punching and less predictable arm movement.