OOAK Table Tennis Forum

After having just received my new 989H AMDT robot... the description said the two wheels would allow for separated speed and spin -- but this is not the case, so far as I can tell. The spin is still tied to the speed of the ball. I'm really not even sure what having the extra wheel is adding to my experience!

Is there any robot that can truly separate speed from spin? As in, fire off a very slow but incredibly fast spinning ball (either with back, top, or side)? Does the Amicus Pro do such a thing?

I saw that the Newstar 2080 robot did, but those are no longer on the market it appears.

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SOULSPIN CUSTOM BLADES
Fh: Spinny rubber
Bh: Not so spinny rubber...

Hi Slapper,
Nice username btw, I have used a single wheel robot for a number of years (tibhar robo pro) with this speed and spin are directly linked as the one wheel adds spin and speed, with one wheel you can not get a no spin, float ball, or a bAll that is slow and spinny or fast with little or no spin.

The addition of an extra wheel on your robot does let you separate speed and spin in most requirements, if the robot sets both wheels to rotate the same speed you can have a no spin ball at any speed (this is the main advantage of the 2 wheel robots), however as far as I am aware none can either lock one wheel or rotate one wheel in the opposite direction, I guess if you need a really spinny slow ball that is what you would need, however I doubt such a ball could be created by a normal player, I think 2 wheel robots aren't able to generate quite as much spin as the single wheel ones because even when one wheel is not powered it tends to freewheel a little. For this style of robot, 1 and 2 wheel, the head rotates to change spin, the head also moves side to side and up and down to change ball direction

As for the amicus pro (all amicus latest models are the same except the control panel has more options the higher the model) these have 3 wheels, the head does not move at all, it uses a chute after the ball goes through the wheels to position the ball height and direction, to change spin from one ball to the next the wheels are able to stop and change direction really quickly, from heavy top to heavy chop in a fraction of a second.

I guess you pay your money and take your choice, for ease of set up and reliability I love the Y and T style, just wheel it to the table , spread out the net and away you go, I dont think it missed a single ball feed in 10 years even tho it was in a barn
I bought the amicus pro for its programming abilities, you can pretty much get it to do any drill you want, mixing speed, spin, trajectory and placement on every shot if you want, using radom mode is challenging though, as the head doesnt move you dont get much idea of what its going to do next

Regards Steve

Is the amicus capable of separating the spin/speed with its 3 wheels? Or is it still, to get more spin you get more speed?

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SOULSPIN CUSTOM BLADES
Fh: Spinny rubber
Bh: Not so spinny rubber...

My iPong Master V300 has 2 wheels. Its fairly easy to set up no spin balls either slow or fast because of this, just set both wheels at the same or similar speeds. What it can't do though is slow balls, heavy spin as despite having to two wheels it still needs the speed of the wheel to generate the spin which at the same time increases the speed of the ball.

So the advantage of a 2 wheel robot is you can do fast no/low spin balls that a 1 wheel can't but you still can't do slow spinny balls.

Another thing that is limiting on the V300 is that due to it not having a head, you can't angle the ball flight up or down. You can till the whole unit by putting something under the front or back but then balls fall out the top or the oscillation struggles. It can be tricky to get the settings right so the ball doesn't fly off the table.

Apart from that though there are still plenty of things you can do and worth the $200. No ball jams so far for me either.

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Donic Waldner Senso V1,FH Baracuda Big Slam 2.0mm ,BH Victas Triple Regular 2.0mm

Yes, I'd agree on that. I have the Ipong v300 as well. I'm not sure what the $1,700 robot is giving above and beyond to the cheaper one, now that I see the spin/speed aren't really independent of each other. I guess perhaps quality, speed, and programming? That you can have it fire any type of spin during the drill, without having to change any settings once starting. I'm not sure what else...

The Ipong wireless remote is nice too. I usually keep that in my off hand so I can tinker with the spins as I'm playing.

_________________
SOULSPIN CUSTOM BLADES
Fh: Spinny rubber
Bh: Not so spinny rubber...

I suppose, to give slow, spinny balls, you'd need wheels spinning in the same direction, with one wheel slightly faster than the other. I wonder if it'd be possible to hack the iPong to do this (it's cheap enough if you ruin it..). Maybe reversing the input wires on one of the wheels.. they're simple brushed DC motors so this will reverse the direction that motor will turn.

Iskandar

I don't think they are still in business. My PK1 robot could use a replacement motor.

To a point yes. It isn't close to perfect however.

It sure can create slow heavy backspin or top spin balls. It can create faster ones too. The oddity comes where you say you want a certain speed but then you ask for more spin - you end up getting more speed and spin. So adjust the speed back a little and you have more spin with the same "speed". One is tied to the other but not like a Newgy at all which allows you to have no spin or light spin balls at high speed.