XuShaoFa

I, Robot...

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From Greg Letts, former About.com Guide

Main Controller Box

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Guest author Peter Williams writes about his experiences with the XuShaoFa table tennis robot.

This robot has been very impressive: even though I have not yet graduated beyond the most basic of cards! The machine is very sturdy, and the control box although not very aesthetically pleasing is very strong. I have been using it for 3 to 4 months, with no problems at all...

The items below have been kept in the same format as the Amicus 3000 report, to make for easy comparison…. (and of course not because I am a lazy so-and-so who can't think of my own ideas….)

Availability

Note from Greg: I have been asked a few times about who to contact regarding putting an order through for a XuShaoFa robot - the best I can suggest is their enquiry email address at enquiry@rft.newtthk.com. The distributor website is http://www.rft-global.com/TT-robot-2.html. Unfortunately, as of the time of publishing this article (14th February 2007), the distributors have temporarily suspended the robot's sale for overseas use, until further notice.

Update 20th May 2008: Table Tennis World (an Australian distributor) has now started selling the XuShaoFa robots.

Price

This was really impressive - for the price of approximately $1500 Australian (half the Amicus 3000, and similar to the most basic of Newgys) - it appears to do almost everything the 3000 can do. Without analyzing each and every sequence, I can't say what each can do that the others cannot - suffice to say that it is more than adequate for my needs.

A benefit over the more advanced others is that there is no complicated programming - you simply select the card you want, and the only adjustable items are the sequence number, duration, speed, and frequency - all operated via push buttons. In the photo of the control box, it is showing sequence 3, duration 5 (minutes), speed 3 (out of 10), and frequency 5.

Setup

The Control Cards

Very simply - the machine clips onto the end of the table, so it is merely a matter of putting the ball tray on each side, the arms to carry the net, and the clips under the main body which fit under the table. Less than 10 minutes to assemble initially, and the setting up and taking down time now is literally seconds.

Manual

The manual is OK - the robot is very easy to assemble merely from looking at the pictures. Programming is a matter of looking at a brochure (in English) to see which sequence you wish to follow.

Ease of Use

The Control Sequences

Main Controller
See picture at the top of the article for the front of the controller - push buttons below the digital display allow you to cycle up and down to the correct number.

There are a total of 10 "cards" delivered with the machine - each of which has approximately 25 sequences (depending on the complexity)

The card fits in at the back of the controller, above the power cord. There is also the main on/off switch at the back.

The receiving area is divided into 15 zones - 5 across, 3 deep - the zone the ball lands in is dictated by the card and sequence. There are also 9 different types of services (topspin, backspin, left topspin, no spin, etc) into the different zones.

With close to 300 different training procedures, serves etc, it will be a while before I get through them all - particularly if they are similar to the ones pictured!

Remote Control
There is no remote...