UNIVERSAL ANCHOR WINCH-MANIPULATOR: SUITABLE FOR ALL TYPES OF BOATS Video from TikTok Credit: shijiebigscissorstao | EcoCrabe

Researchers at ETH Zürich have taught ANYmal-D, a four-legged manipulator robot, to play badminton against humans. The system uses a reinforcement-learning controller that integrates vision, locomotion, and arm manipulation to intercept and return shots. While the robot isn’t yet at human-competitive level, the work demonstrates how sport can serve as a proxy task for developing robots with dynamic perception-motion coordination—a capability relevant for applications such as search and rescue or