OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Larry - I'll post a review once I receive the robot.

Dunc - I found exactly the same thing about the bounce of the ball which lead me to question whether a robot was a good idea. However after speaking with a number of people and quite a few conversations with Teesports, they have said the following about the new Amicus robots:

"No robot will play and spin a ball exactly like a human. However, having tried the Amicus robot myself I would say that it comes pretty close."

Plus I noticed that Teesports have just reduced the price on all of their models (they do this on all Butterfly equipment after a while), so it's even more appealing to buy one. I'm hoping therefore to place my order within the next couple of weeks!

_________________
Blade: Ross Leidy custom blade
Forehand: Butterfly Tenergy 05-FX 1.7mm
Backhand: Dr Neubauer Gangster and Desperado 2 (testing both) OX

Butterfly Amicus Professional robot
-----
Ever tried, Ever failed? No Matter.
Try again, Fail Again, Fail Better!

That's probably not what you should be looking for in a robot though... but I know what you mean

I do hope this new Amicus does a good job at making spin and speed independent, which should give a greater variety of shots.

I also hope that Newgy will one day look at multi-wheel head, as I think that would be a natural progression of their range.

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Hello,

It is my first post here.

I just bought Amicus Advance robot. I received it end of last weeks. My first feeling is that is a strong product. The bag seems robust and the robot is made of steel. But I had no time to test it for the moment.

My decision was made because :
- this robot is light weight
- it is able to mix "any" kind of balls.
- it can store up to 10 exercices.
- it has a random mode to send balls around a position.

I read some previous feedback after ordering the robot and I was a bit puzzled at the beginning wondering if I did a "good" buy.

For me the 2050 and 1050 robots are limited by their design because I have to manually rotate the head to change the spin from side to top or back. Worst for me the spin is linked to the speed because of their one wheels desing. I am sure that these robot are good "trainers". I used a few among the years. But they do not fit my search and requirements now.

About the limitations previously mentioned. Here my opinion before my real test :
- Ok it seems the head will change a bit the spin and the direction. In this case I think I will try adjust the spin and the direction if any need to fit my needs. I do not need 100% accuracy...

- The head can reduce the spin. Ok. I will try to increase a bit if any need. I am believing that "max" spin setting is more that I can get most of the time in real game with the casual player I play.

- The randomly ball selection should be difficult because the head is very compact. So the anticipation of the change of direction is difficult. In one hand I agree it could be anoying. At the other hand it could be good to work my reflexes. And at last, I am not sure I will ask first to the robot to send randomly the balls I took time to order for an exercice. May be once I will be able to "master" the exercise at various speed. Before, I am really not sure. I think the random mode to send balls around a fixed position (within a 20cm circle) will be very useful.

- Least, I read an last critics: theses robot always produce a small amount of side spin. Ok. I read into to the documentation the amicus has specific design to "null" this effect. May be not. Nevertheless I am not sure that I had ever played a guy who was able to do top spin without any a few amount of side spin...

May be I am too optimistic and may be my tests will change these first point of view.
Several guys at the club want to test it. Their ranking are from 800 to 1900.
I will share.

Greetings,
Cyrille

Thank you Cyrille, and welcome to the forum!

I look forwards to your thoughts when you've tested the robot!

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

I visited Tees Sport last Friday to try out the Amicus robots.
They had a brand new boxed Amicus Advance.

Unfortunately by the time we unboxed, managed all the connections and found a plug adapter we were getting close to the shop closing time.
We only managed to get a top-spin ball to test against, briefly.

My intention was to test all 3 versions so I could decide which one was the right fit for me.
They have a staff member who is more familiar with the robots, so I will visit again when he is on site and allow at least half a day for testing.

_________________
Previous Setups: -
Setup1: Blade: TSP Balsa All+FH: SpinLord Waran 2.0 BH: Lion Claw ox
Setup2: Blade: TSP Balsa All+ FH: Tenergy 05 max BH: Tenergy 05 max
Setup3: Blade: DMS Destroyer FH: Tenergy 05 max BH: DMS Transformer 1.5

I didn't realise that you could go there and test them. I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts. I'm intending on ordering mine at the end of next week, but may hold off until I've heard your thoughts.

_________________
Blade: Ross Leidy custom blade
Forehand: Butterfly Tenergy 05-FX 1.7mm
Backhand: Dr Neubauer Gangster and Desperado 2 (testing both) OX

Butterfly Amicus Professional robot
-----
Ever tried, Ever failed? No Matter.
Try again, Fail Again, Fail Better!

Hi Chris,
Tees Sport moved offices a few months ago and now have room for a table to test equipment.
I contacted them several weeks ago about visiting and testing the robots and they said no problem.
I was in the area with work and only called them a couple of hours before I arrived, unfortunately the one staff on customer support hadn't used the robot before.
The little time I had on the robot was no where near enough to assess it's capabilities.
I am out of the country for the next 2 weeks so will not be able to get back to Tees Sport, it will also be dependent on when the robot expert is on site there. I will keep you posted on my return.
Thanks Mike

_________________
Previous Setups: -
Setup1: Blade: TSP Balsa All+FH: SpinLord Waran 2.0 BH: Lion Claw ox
Setup2: Blade: TSP Balsa All+ FH: Tenergy 05 max BH: Tenergy 05 max
Setup3: Blade: DMS Destroyer FH: Tenergy 05 max BH: DMS Transformer 1.5

Hello,

I powered my Amicus Advanced this afternoon to make a try and give you a short feedback :
My first impression :
Very easy to use and very complete.

About the installation :
I installed it in less than 5mn.
I tried only with the head at the higher position (recommended to make serves)
I used a table with a 18mm plate and I found that the Amicus command box could be better attached. I think it can fall down easily if someone hit it. I think the support of this box is designed for 22-25mm plates. I will take care of this with young players.
The command cables could be fixed in a more secure manner. For me they are too easy to detach. I guess for other it couls be an avantage : some people will not broke the connector by removing it...
The power cable is fine.
The light on the control box could be a little bit brighter for my taste.

First balls and impressions :
- By default Amicus produces "no spin" balls. I saw the butterfly logo of the balls going from the robot to me close in the same position. I did not saw noticeable side spin if none is asked.
- Positioning the ball on the table : I had to take care to center well the head to be able to send balls from left to right. Once done, I had no trouble.
- Spin : Max back or top spin are more than enough for me. Side spin could be heavytoo.
- Serve : I tried short serve. Amicus does it very well.
- High balls : I tried short and long as well as back spin or top spin hit balls.
- AFC : very useful. It adds temporisation to wait "slow" balls. So even is the frequency is high when a "slow" ball is done the robot is waiting a bit for the next one.
- The sample button is very useful to setup and adjust all the parameters of a balls.
- Sequence of 6 balls : I did this one :
short serve, no spin, middle
long, top spin, right
long, top spin, right
long, top spin, left
High, top spin, right
long, back spin, left.

What I would had :
- A voice command to say Go/Stop the exercices. Pressing sample button is fine but it send always some balls around that I can't catch...I believe that the wireless command of the Amicus pro version is not the definitive solution too.
- A new range button to select the number of ball to play (up to 100 for example) before stopping.

Greetings,
Cyrille

Cyrille, thanks for that report. When you get a chance to try some more things, let me know if you can get your Amicus to do the following shots:

1. A short, topspin serve that double bounces on the player's end of the table?
2. A slow loop where the topspin is much greater than the speed of the ball, and can you adjust the depth of that shot (where it lands on the table) while keeping the height of the ball about the same?
3. At maximum speed and topspin, does the ball "kick" your paddle?
4. A short, low underspin serve that stops by itself and then bounces/rolls back towards the net?
5. A slow, floating no-spin return that barely clears the endline?

Thanks.

Larry

Well I've got my Amicus robot now and it's very good

I'll write a full review when I have time, but essentially it is better than anything else I've tried in the past. The ball that it produces feels very realistic and there are more options than I can get my head around at the moment

In summary, it's perfect for my needs and does everything I could possibly ask for. However it would be nice to be able to download a set of saved routines and upload them into the device. That said, programming the balls doesn't take long and once you've put them all in and saved it, then you don't have to worry about doing it all over again.

To answer Larry's questions above, I'll try, but please note that I've not really played for it long enough to answer them all:

1. A short, topspin serve that double bounces on the player's end of the table?

Yes it does this.

2. A slow loop where the topspin is much greater than the speed of the ball, and can you adjust the depth of that shot (where it lands on the table) while keeping the height of the ball about the same?

Yes it does this.

3. At maximum speed and topspin, does the ball "kick" your paddle?

I've not tried at maximum speed, but at maximum top spin, it really kicks off your blade!

4. A short, low underspin serve that stops by itself and then bounces/rolls back towards the net?

Yes it does this.

5. A slow, floating no-spin return that barely clears the endline?

Yes it does this, but I've not really experimented with the depth, so I can't say how close to the endline I can get it at this stage.

_________________
Blade: Ross Leidy custom blade
Forehand: Butterfly Tenergy 05-FX 1.7mm
Backhand: Dr Neubauer Gangster and Desperado 2 (testing both) OX

Butterfly Amicus Professional robot
-----
Ever tried, Ever failed? No Matter.
Try again, Fail Again, Fail Better!

Forgot to add that I'll try and post some videos when I have time and a better review!

_________________
Blade: Ross Leidy custom blade
Forehand: Butterfly Tenergy 05-FX 1.7mm
Backhand: Dr Neubauer Gangster and Desperado 2 (testing both) OX

Butterfly Amicus Professional robot
-----
Ever tried, Ever failed? No Matter.
Try again, Fail Again, Fail Better!

Wow! Sounds very promising. Those are some difficult balls to achieve, engineering-wise. You have to have a true separation of speed versus spin to accomplish those shots. Makes me think that unlike the Basic control box I have, your Advanced control box allows the wheels to turn backward, which often causes trouble if they turn too fast (because that can cause them to be pushed back towards the robot instead of away from it). I need to re-double my efforts to see if I can get an Advanced or Professional control box. I need to check this out for myself. Thanks for the report. I look forward to hearing more.

Larry

Thanks Cyrille and ChrisBuer! That sounds very promising indeed!!!

_________________
OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

A lot of the shorter serve shots with spin are achieved by adjusting the height of the robot (it has 4 height settings) and adjusting the trajectory the ball is released at. Therefore you can get the ball to fire down onto the table and make it double bounce without having to adjust the speed and spin too much.

For example, I've set it up to do the following:

Ball 1 - short back spin serve that bounces twice and then rolls back to the net. I set this ball as a serve ball which puts a 1-1.5 second delay before the next ball is released.

Ball 2 - Fast top spin drive down the middle that I block with my pips.

Ball 3 - Slow heavy spin loop down the middle that I block with my pips.

Ball 4 - A floating no spin ball deep to the middle where I twiddle and loop.

Balls 5 and 6 - Forehand drives left and right.

Ball 7 - A high lob shot that kicks off with top spin.

Ball 8 - A high lob with no spin.

I've also practiced doing no spin, top spin and back spin forehands so that I smash one, drive one and lift one. All in one programme.

_________________
Blade: Ross Leidy custom blade
Forehand: Butterfly Tenergy 05-FX 1.7mm
Backhand: Dr Neubauer Gangster and Desperado 2 (testing both) OX

Butterfly Amicus Professional robot
-----
Ever tried, Ever failed? No Matter.
Try again, Fail Again, Fail Better!

I wonder if I can sell my car to buy one of these robots...

Now there's an idea