Closing the serve–rally performance gap via paddle clearance and improved spin classification

Establish whether allowing the ABB IRB 1100 robot’s paddle to approach closer to the table surface and improving real-time serve spin classification measurably closes the performance gap between serving and rallying phases in competitive robot–human table tennis matches.

Background

In a five-player paper with points allowed on services, the robot’s match, set, and point win rates were notably lower than in rally-focused matches, indicating a serving-phase performance gap. Two contributing factors were identified: strict collision avoidance preventing the paddle from approaching low serves near the table, and low recall for underspin in the spin classifier, partly due to motion capture interruptions.

The authors explicitly conjecture that increasing permissible paddle proximity to the table and improving real-time spin classification would close most of this gap. Validating this conjecture would inform safety, perception, and control trade-offs needed to reach rally-level performance during the service phase.