Robots...totally useless?

I tried a robot yesterday and it may be a matter of settings, but it was completely unlike hitting a real ball hit by a live player. It was also totally unlike multiball training.

Edited by baribari - 09/28/2016 at 12:25am

I just bought a butterfly amicus pro and its great. Not sure what robot you have but with the amicus the spin and speed can be adjusted independently of each other.

It can create very realistic balls in my opinion and has helped me quickly. My biggest complaint is that all the balls have to come from the center of the table. I guess i could move the robot to the side but then you cant catch the balls with the net properly.

But if you dont have easy access to a coach I'd highly recommend it.

Edited by WeebleWobble - 09/28/2016 at 8:30am

chongqinghotpot wrote: I found nothing was more helpful than my old newgy robot which helped me reach 2200-2300 level in a few years starting in my late 30s without coaching .

I have mixed feelings on robots.

WeebleWobble wrote: suds79 wrote: I have mixed feelings on robots.   For this reason I'd probably only ever recommend a robot with at least a 2 wheel motor system. That's why I sprung for the amicus.  You can set backspin at 1-5.  2 is fairly heavy.  3 is probably chopper heavy.  I haven't even tried 4 or 5, I'm sure its ridiculous.

In addition to practicing fundamentals with robot, i often try to change power, spin, placement, timing, etc. on my shots. There are countless things you can do with a robot creatively. I can play with robot for 2 hours without feeling bored.

baribari wrote: About the best thing you can say about robots is that they're a great workout... and that they're consistent. Arguably even more consistent than a coach feeding you balls. But you have to get the settings dialed in perfect to simulate a live ball. A lot of machines don't let you adjust speed and spin separately. You're lucky if you even have a machine that can aim at different places. I guess in the end it depends on how good the robot is. OTOH, the machine was using cheap celluloid balls and I've been practicing with nothing but plastic balls for well over a year. I also might have confused the topspin setting for the backspin setting, which might explain why the balls felt so weird.

Baal wrote: Part of the problem is that some of the cheaper robots have a tendency to wear badly and at some point stop giving you balls that are much use for training, which sounds a bit like what is happening to the OP.  Also, you can use the robot to do nothing more than reinforce really bad habits (or generate repetitive use injuries).  I have seen some people get actually worse from a robot. On the other hand, you can use it at home alone.  You do have to be careful how you use it.  I think it is best to use them with video to make sure you are maintaining good form.   Chongqing, perhaps you could explain exactly how you used the robot to make the improvement?

+1.  Use your phone to record ~2 min at the beginning of each session to make sure your from is correct.  The rhythm from the robot is constant so it's very easy to develop a bad form.
  

WeebleWobble wrote: suds79 wrote: I have mixed feelings on robots.   For this reason I'd probably only ever recommend a robot with at least a 2 wheel motor system. That's why I sprung for the amicus.  You can set backspin at 1-5.  2 is fairly heavy.  3 is probably chopper heavy.  I haven't even tried 4 or 5, I'm sure its ridiculous.

chongqinghotpot wrote: I found nothing was more helpful than my old newgy robot which helped me reach 2200-2300 level in a few years starting in my late 30s without coaching .

I spent a lot of time working on the robot, mainly because I didn't have very many players to practice with that could return more than 1 or 2 balls..for the most part, I find it's better than no practice at all. it will help your stamina and your foot work. criss cross drills switching from backhand to forehand and some pushing drills are helpful..but, it is no replacement for playing matches. I am improving at a faster rate since I quit using the robot. It does not compare to real playing, the one thing is the dead balls and floaters that happen during matches the unpredictable..my backhand stroke works great on the robot but cant hit the table when I'm playing a match..learn how to loop backspins on the robot and they will fly off the end of the table during a match..this is with a robopong, which I personally think is a bad robot..I think the butterfly robot would be a lot better to use and would be helpful for improvement, especially with the options for practicing various spin shots and service return drills....

FlatHitter wrote: I spent a lot of time working on the robot, mainly because I didn't have very many players to practice with that could return more than 1 or 2 balls..for the most part, I find it's better than no practice at all. it will help your stamina and your foot work. criss cross drills switching from backhand to forehand and some pushing drills are helpful..but, it is no replacement for playing matches. I am improving at a faster rate since I quit using the robot. It does not compare to real playing, the one thing is the dead balls and floaters that happen during matches the unpredictable..my backhand stroke works great on the robot but cant hit the table when I'm playing a match..learn how to loop backspins on the robot and they will fly off the end of the table during a match..this is with a robopong, which I personally think is a bad robot..I think the butterfly robot would be a lot better to use and would be helpful for improvement, especially with the options for practicing various spin shots and service return drills....