Are you serious about improving your table tennis game?
Are you desperately looking for a hitting partner to practice shots?
Yes, you identified it right that practice and only practice can help improve your table tennis game. However, these days it’s tough to find a partner of your level or better, who is ready to practice with you whenever, wherever and as long as you want. Other than these, finding someone who can feed the ball at you, end number of times, consistently with accuracy till you improve your consistency is next to impossible.
So this is where a Table Tennis Robot or Ping Pong robot comes in the picture which can meet your requirements. You can even program the robot to specific shots you would like to focus.
This post is about the advantages and disadvantages of these robots. If you’d like to purchase a table tennis robot, PingPongBros.com has assimilated a list of top robots currently available in the market. Here is the link to guide.
Let us first look at the benefits:
Fun with practice
Practicing with a robot is fun and entertainment combined with health benefits. Robots make you exercise with fun and thus keep your body fit. In today’s hectic lifestyle, ping pong robots also help engage all the family members and friends to spend some fun time while practicing.
It’s great for even kids. For players at an advanced level, it serves as a professional opponent, excellent in returning powerful strokes relentlessly. Therefore every family member at beginner to intermediate or even at an advanced level, irrespective of their age can enjoy the game.
Suits any player
Robot suits any level of player. No matter if you’re a beginner, junior player or professional player, it offers practice sessions for everybody as per their level of the game and gives equal advantage to the novice as well as a professional player. These robots, therefore, can make a notable improvement in your game.
Your 24×7 tireless Training Partner
You will find everyone busy in today’s world, therefore not finding a partner to play with you is very common. Yes, sometimes you also may become bit unwilling to go to the club and similarly, you and your friend’s timing and desire for playing the game somehow may not match.
In a highly interactive sports like table tennis, you can’t move without a partner. This very reason has increased the popularity of Table Tennis Robots these days as they help you play anytime, anywhere, whenever and as long as you want.
Builds stamina, quick reflexes, and endurance
Your endurance is a crucial factor to be taken care of, along with skills and techniques. Robots do not get tired, unlike a human opponent. Whenever you are ready, the robot is willing to train you. They are programmed to conduct lengthy drilling process to challenge your endurance and stamina. As a result, your power of endurance and stamina increases with tough practices.
Robots also offer challenging full body workouts to get stronger. It strengthens your cardiovascular system, increases muscular endurance, improves hand/eye coordination along with developing quick reflexes, and balance. It also fosters mental health and sharpens the mind.
Builds Consistency and Accuracy
With robots, you get the chance to hit balls repeatedly to improve your own strokes. The practice of this kind is indispensable to develop reflexes and muscle memory naturally. Practicing a variety of shots, again and again, also improve your muscle memory to react automatically while playing some of the routine shots.
It thus becomes a secret weapon to carve your skills at the earliest. As the robots deliver the balls with the same speed to the same position and even spin, you can focus on working on your movement, starting and finishing position, feet position, the tension of your fingers, wrist & arm, and of course weak strokes.
Programmable
Do not worry if you’re struggling with your topspin or loop. The best part of the robots is that you can program the robot to practice specific strokes and that too at your own pace. You can program your sequence of shots. You can even choose to do different exercises to improve your fitness level with its pre-programmed drills.
Much improvement can be made in areas like serves and returns, flicking practice for backhand and forehand, footwork, backspin, playing fast rallies compared to regular table tennis rallies and many more. Practicing with robots makes you even ready for competitive matches.
Mix with coaching sessions to accelerate your Learning Process
If you take the game seriously, punch robot training in your coaching sessions. Robots are great at placing the ball into the same spot every time with accuracy while a coach can help you work on your technique.
With the repetitive and consistent balls from the robot, you can practice the strokes, again and again until you get the technique right and it becomes a natural part of your game.
Downside of owning a Ping Pong Robot
Using robots have plenty of positives, but still, there are few negatives and also the ways to convert them to positives.
Cost
A professional robot costs at least $2k while an intermediate robot can cost you anywhere between $500 and $800. However, if you consider the amount of practice you get, the price is well justified. Instead, the investment is cheaper compared to hiring a coach for feeding balls at you.
Practice is as good as your technique
When you are practicing repetitively, be careful that you do not pick any incorrect technique. Practicing with the wrong technique or stance will be difficult to correct later on. It’s always preferred to have both coaching session and practice on the robot.
Lacks human-like randomness
After all, it’s still a robot, and it’s predictable. A few advanced robots have a random feature, but they are not as good as humans. A static machine cannot provide you with crucial game-related information such as stroke actions, body movements, stroke choice, position concerning the table, and many others.
A robot can’t replicate these. Reading the opponent is a havoc task, therefore, play with a real opponent while practicing with robots.
Final note
Robots play a vital role in your development as a player when you use them to practice the skills you learn from your professional trainer. The combination of coaching and practice can do magic.
The only significant downside can be the cost for some people which you can easily ignore if you consider the advantages.
