A friend in need is a friend indeed, and for India's top table tennis player G. Sathiyan it is his robot which has now become his "best buddy" amid the COVID-19 lockdown.
A three-week lockdown has disrupted daily routines of top athletes like Sathiyan. But a highly advanced robot, which Sathiyan imported from Germany, is not only helping the Chennai paddler as a playing partner everyday but also making him get better technically.
"The robot concept has been prevalent before but this robot was very advanced as it could put 120 balls per minute. That's like 2 balls a second which is insane. It could vary speed, trajectory and put the ball in any direction," Sathiyan told IANS from his Chennai residence.
"You can set up lot of exercises. Like a backhand, forehand these kind of exercises can be set. Up to 100 exercises can be set. A combination of exercises can be set. It is very close to a human.
"It can replicate lot of ideas and it can put a short and a long top-spin in the same exercise. So I think it's one of the most advanced robots in the world and of course, it can never be compared to a human.
"A human can see your body and then give the ball accordingly but I feel this robot is as close to a human as it can be," added Sathiyan who broke into the top 25 of the ITTF rankings in 2019, making him the first Indian table tennis player to do so.
Called the Butterfly Amicus Prime, the portable robot is easy to handle and a person can also alter the type of shots that he or she wants to practice.
'We got it in November last year. This was the idea of my coach Subramanian Raman sir. He insisted we get the robot in special preparation for the World Cup. This is to increase speed, reflexes, technique and everything. We thought this might give us the supporting hand or extra bit of edge in playing a big tournament like a World Cup. So we got this idea by seeing some videos," Sathiyan narrated.
He thanked GoSports Foundation for funding the robot which costs USD2000 and SDAT (Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu) for helping him import the product.
"So we got it in November and when the lockdown was announced I thought this might be very useful to take it back home. It was at the centre.
"So I got it at home. Now I have a table and a robot. I am trying to hit around couple of hours everyday with the robot. I am playing different combination of sequences and to improve speed and skill and my reflexes. To improve overall technique," explained Sathiyan who paired up with veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal to win the men's doubles silver at the Hungarian Open before opting out of the Oman Open in a bid to stay injury-free and manage his workload in an Olympic year. The Tokyo Olympics was later postponed by a year due to the pandemic.
"So in this kind of situation the robot has become my best friend and my sparring partner," he said.
"This is made only for professionals. There are three levels of it. Generally, people think robots can put one kind of ball and is for amateurs. But this has gone above all expectations and putting high-quality balls with lot of variations especially in a period like this."
Sathiyan said besides practice, he spends time with his mother at home watching movies on Netflix.
"I am trying to make maximum use of it. I am doing my fitness. I am also spending quality time with my mother, watching movies and Netflix. Having home-cooked food," he signed off.
