First Look at Golfi, an Innovative Golf Robot That Can Putt Like a Professional

Set to be introduced at the IEEE International Conference on Robotic Computing in Italy next month, Golfi is basically a golf robot that can putt like a professional. It does this by utilizing a Microsoft Kinect 3D camera mounted on the ceiling to capture a depth map of the green and that data is then sent to a physics-based model.

There are other calculations that need to be made as well, such as the rolling resistance of the turf, weight of the ball and its starting velocity. In all, it simulates approximately three thousand random shots from various starting points to train a neural network. This AI-powered neural network is then capable of predicting how hard and what direction to hit the ball from just about anywhere on the green. However, the most important task for the robot is lining up the putter with the ball. Now if it can only look as cool as this Batman Tumbler golf cart.