OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Not exactly. The Advance model has up to 6 balls, the Pro has 8. You can have them send you up to thst many random balls, but it can be tough if you don't know the topspin or backspin coming at you. The add-on controller I'm building will be better at that though - it will give you unlimited random balls, and will have a display to tell you the spin of the next ball.

I'm currently running a local table tennis club on a Saturday morning for 3 hours.

One of the players texted me before I went down to ask if I could bring my robot. She's been using a Newgy Robopong which the club owns but the guy who runs the club brings it with him and he wasn't there this week.

I brought my Amicus (Advance) down and she spent the full 3 hours playing against the robot. Her and two other players all commented on how "realistic" the robot is when set up properly.

She did a few different drills to suit her game (fast and flat with Raystorm SPs backhand on an OFF- blade):

• Forehand warmup
• Forehand, backhand
• Forehand, backhand, come in to play vs forehand push
• Three various spin/location backhands, wide forehand

She was really impressed with it. I quite genuinely think it's just as good (different, but equal) as playing with a drilling partner - as long as you've got enough room.

If you had a coach, and he watched you play competitive matches, and could tell you what drills to do to improve your game... I genuinely think the Amicus could take you to a really good level, unlike other robots which in my opinion aren't realistic (throw angle, spin, etc) and can't facilitate the level of drill you need to get to a certain level in TT.

_________________
My blog: "Learning to play: as a modern defender": http://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=22254
My YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtazeX ... oICGS9bqNg
Join the OOAK Discord!: https://discord.gg/Yw2hYUdz3g

[Other gear I've used]
Blades: Butterfly Defence 3, Butterfly Defence Pro, Butterfly Innerforce ZLC, Butterfly Innershield, DHS Power G7, Stiga Offensive Classic Carbon
SPs: Friendship 802 (1.5), TSP Spectol (1.3, 1.8, 2.1), TSP Spectol Speed (1.3), TSP Super Spinpips Chop Sponge 2 (0.5, 1.3)
LPs: Butterfly Feint Long II (1), Butterfly Feint Long III (0.5, 1.3), Tibhar Grass D.TecS (OX), TSP Curl P1-R (0.5, 1, 1.3), TSP Curl P4 (1.3)

Is the advanced one good enough to have "fun" with (and won't become boring after a while), or should I go for the pro model?

I don't know what would be fun for you, but the Advance and Peo are pretty similar. The Pro can have 8 balls per drill, the advance 6. Both are more for practice drills than to simulate real play, but drills with it is a lot of fun to me! If you want something that's more like playing against a human, you'll have to wait for my controller.

I'm not sure if this helps, but I've only had it about 3 weeks and have already made ~15 programs (the advanced can only do 10 -- vs the pro than can do 99). I personally think it is more convenient to have a set of everyday drills for warm-up and the rest for "fun". It is very easy to program once you get past the learning curve and therefore I would imagine feeling limited by only 10 program slots and 6 balls per drill.

For example, my programs include variations such as these:

1. random placement (2-3 locations) of forehand with topspin (When I do this drill I move both close and a few steps back from the table)
2. Same as "1" but with backhand
3. alternating, forehand + backhand with topsin
4. (1) backhand, (2) mid-table forehand, (3) backhand, (4) wide forehand all with topspin
5. Falkenburg
6. balls (1-4) same as "4" above, with added (balls 5-8) same pattern but higher speeds so I move backward and take these further from the table
*This is actually my favorite drill at the moment

All these drills above I have with underspin variations which doubles to about 12 drills. I know these can easily be modified if you only have 10 program slots, but if you're dealing with many separate ball placements, it can get tedious.

Other specific drills I have include:

13. Forehand - random placement (5 locations) + pop up ball for smash
14. backhand - same as "13"
15. random (1-4) short under and short under/side spin serves --> to practice flipping

*I plan to add these to my spreadsheet in my signature when I have more time...

Not having to reprogram it every time I use it is very nice. However, with Dave's controller you could potentially get away with the basic and have everything and more. I just figured to splurge for the Pro since butterfly seems to have pretty good customer service and I'm not sure how long Dave's controller will take to build and iron out the kinks (but it is very exciting if it works out).

Pardon my ignorance, but what does "6/8 balls per drill" mean?

i apologize for my vague description. Hopefully this clears it up:

I was referring to how the advanced and pro versions differ by their maximum number of different balls delivered per drill. 6 balls versus 8 balls per drill (each ball with potentially different spin, speed and placement).

It doesn't seem like a big difference, but the real hook for me was the higher limit of 99 saved exercises versus 10. With all the extra room for drills I think it makes the experience much more "fun"

FWIW, we have an "owners" thread here: http://ooakforum.com./viewtopic.php?f=67&t=27118 .

That isn't to say that any recent posts belong there or anything… I just wanted to point it out in case some hadn't seen it or posted in it yet.

_________________
Erik J. Barzeski
Newb in Erie, PA

Tibhar TEXO All | 1.8 999 Juic Elite x 2
Ross Leidy ALL Blades (x2) | 1.8BH/2.0FH Juic 999 Elite
Butterfly Amicus Pro

Erie TTC • Erie TTC Facebook
TST • GE • 5SK • LSW

As ironic as it is given their model names, I suppose the Professional is therefore better suited to players who use the robot for fun.

If you're using the robot to improve your game or warm up before competitive play, 10 drills is perfectly adequate.

I use 6 drills. If I had more space, I could add 3 or 4 more but unfortunately I don't have room to chop on my backhand side.

If I'm warming up before I go out to play a league match, this is the order I tend to follow (dependent upon time):

Fast, gentle topspin to forehand -> imitates warm-up knock and blocking
2 ball drill with same settings for each ball, but slightly different head rotation (1ft apart, or less). Use high bpm (~75 for me) and "random order". Block/counter-hit these with incredibly loose wrist

First drill extended -> get the forehand loop going
6 ball drill with 4 of the same ball as above and 2 float balls. Slightly different head rotation. Lower bpm (~60). Aim is to gently forehand loop all of these balls with as much relaxation as possible. Move to "random order" once loop is consistent

Backspin, topspin balls to backhand -> get the pimples going
2 ball drill with 1 light (standard push spin) backspin and 1 reasonably heavy topspin. Slightly different head rotation (1ft apart, or less). 60 bpm. Chop-block the topspin ball, push (drop short with sidespin turning towards right-handed opponent's forehand), sideswipe or hit the backspin ball. Once the consistency is there on the chop-block, move to "random order". Makes the drill a lot harder but it improves your "emergency" chop-blocking in-game. I also sometimes use this drill to get my twiddled inverted backhand loop going

Random levels of backspin and float -> read the spin!
6 ball drill with 3 or 4 levels of backspin and 2 float balls into the pimples. Very minimal head rotation (~6 inches or less). 60bpm on "random order". Idea is to read the spin on the ball and play the appropriate stroke - roll or push the heavy backspin ball (dropping it short where possible), attack the lighter backspin balls and attack or twiddle->push the float balls. This drill starts off incredibly difficult because you have no indication of what the spin is other than keeping your eye on the ball, but I've noticed that by the end of the drill I start to read the spin quite confidently and it helps me a LOT in game when running in from a chop to push my opponent's push (I kept making mistakes with OX pimples, misreading floated pushes, putting the ball off the end)

General forehand drill
I can't remember exactly how I set this one up but it's a mix of long topspin, backspin and float balls to loop at about 55bpm.

Matchplay drill
Short backspin serve to forehand (flick or dig with inverted), long backspin push to backhand (push or attack with pimples, push with inverted), long backspin push to forehand (loop with inverted), long topspin counter-loop to forehand (counter-loop, slap or block)

_________________
My blog: "Learning to play: as a modern defender": http://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=22254
My YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtazeX ... oICGS9bqNg
Join the OOAK Discord!: https://discord.gg/Yw2hYUdz3g

[Other gear I've used]
Blades: Butterfly Defence 3, Butterfly Defence Pro, Butterfly Innerforce ZLC, Butterfly Innershield, DHS Power G7, Stiga Offensive Classic Carbon
SPs: Friendship 802 (1.5), TSP Spectol (1.3, 1.8, 2.1), TSP Spectol Speed (1.3), TSP Super Spinpips Chop Sponge 2 (0.5, 1.3)
LPs: Butterfly Feint Long II (1), Butterfly Feint Long III (0.5, 1.3), Tibhar Grass D.TecS (OX), TSP Curl P1-R (0.5, 1, 1.3), TSP Curl P4 (1.3)

Can the robot head be located not at the centre of the table? For example off to the left or to the right?

The head/motor can be physically mounted anywhere along the table. However it is attached (by velcro) to the collection tray/net. The tray/net combo fastens to the table and is "fixed". However, if you have your own separate ball collection net that is off of the table I'm sure this is possible. Maybe something like this could work:



One limitation may be that the deflectors may not be able to project balls across the entire width of the table if the head/motor is not centered. For example, if it is placed on the "left side" of the table, it may not be able to project balls to the extreme "right side"

sorry duplicate post

Interesting point. Can the direction of the head be rotated so that it angles towards the opposite side?


Can the head be detached from the collection tray and simply moved freely along the table? I presume that the head is clamped onto the table.... and that perhaps the collection tray hangs off the head, which means that moving the head would equally move the collection tray...?

Now that I think about it, the head can rotate. So if you place the head/motor on one side, you can probably change the angle inwards so the range of the balls from the deflector plate could span the entire table. I think its possible. (if any other owners think otherwise, please feel free to jump in).

Edit: It seems that the net/tray (velcro) can be entirely removed, but I haven't physically tried. if you search in the owners thread, there are pictures of my amicus that may better explain.

Hope this helps

It's a lot of screws, but yes - you can detach the head/collection tray from the net/frame. I have done this. And you can rotate the head too.