News: MLB Robot

University of Tokyo and MIT join forces to create a high speed, three fingered, robot pitcher. From Pink Tentacle:

"To demonstrate the latest advances in high-speed industrial robot technology, researchers at the University of Tokyo have pitted a baseball-pitching robotic arm against a mechanical batter with a near-perfect swing... Precise coordination between the fingers, hand and arm allow the robot pitcher to hit the strike zone 90% of the time.

To make future contests more interesting, the researchers plan to increase the robot pitcher's throwing speed to 150 kph (93 mph) and teach it to throw breaking balls and changeups. In addition, they plan to train the robot batter to repeatedly hit balls to the same target."

Must not miss video below. One word - Awesome.