It has lightning-fast reflexes, doesn’t get tired and can learn from every match it plays. Meet Puck Pilot, an artificial intelligence-powered air hockey robot created by students and researchers in UBC’s Engineering Physics department. The project began six years ago as a way for students to explore robotics and machine learning through a fun, competitive challenge: building a robot capable of defeating humans at air hockey. “We all wanted to work on something in a robotics kind of aspect, but the gamified version of a project where you have a discrete task and defeat a human at something is just very motivating,” said Puck Pilot co-creator Greg Reid. The robot relies on a combination of cameras, computers, circuit boards, machine learning and even homemade components to track the puck and react in real time. One improvised reflector used by the system was even cut from the instructor’s cycling jacket. By using specialized cameras and reflective markers, the system can track the puck’s movement and process information roughly 130 times per second, allowing it to predict shots and respond almost instantly. “This for us was really about having a platform to get into this whole idea of how AI is going to impact real-world physical systems,” said UBC Engineering Physics instructor Dylan Gunn. The technology has continued to improve over the years, recently reaching a major milestone. Last week, Puck Pilot faced two former air hockey world champions from Texas. The robot defeated former world champion Tim Weissman in one match by a score of 7-2. “What they have built is just astounding,” Weissman said. “Scary good.” The machine wasn’t unbeatable, however. Weissman’s son, Jacob Weissman, also a former world champion, managed to defeat the bot 7-5, proving that even artificial intelligence can still make mistakes. “I played much more upbeat than my normal game and I think that just made it harder for it to predict what I was going to do,” Jacob Weissman told CTV News. The team behind the robot recorded the matches against the world champions and is now feeding that data back into the system, hoping to make Puck Pilot an even tougher opponent in the future. “Hopefully it defeats just anybody who comes to see it,” said Reid. While the project is built around a game, researchers say the lessons learned developing Puck Pilot could help students build the skills needed for future careers involving AI, robotics and other emerging technologies.
