Golfing robot uses physics-based model to train its AI system

Researchers at Paderborn University in Germany have built a robot that can knock a ball into a hole using a club on a putting green on most attempts. Annika Junker, Niklas Fittkau, Julia Timmermann and Ansgar Trächtler have published a paper on the arXiv preprint server describing their robot and its performance. Golf is a notoriously difficult sport--professionals and amateurs alike spend countless hours attempting to improve their game. One of the most difficult parts of the game is putting the ball into the hole. Much of the difficulty lies in the combination of factors at play--the height of the grass and its roughness, the amount of wind and degree of humidity, and worst of all, the terrain.