Will a robot help? If so, which?

 

One thing to consider with the 1050 is that in order to have the pre-programmed drills work properly you need to have the robot placed at the right height and distance behind the table.  The drills do not work if you just sit it up on the table.  It needs to be placed such that the throwing head is a the same location as that of a Newgy 2050 attached to the end of the table.  Buying the Newgy Robo Caddy to go with the 1050 solves this problem.  If you set the height of the caddy box even with the table top and push the front right up against the table, the 1050 will sit at the correct spot to make all the drills work.   Of course you could make or perhaps buy something cheaper, but then you have to figure out all the correct measurements. 

 

If you are not interested in the drills you can just sit the 1050 on the table, or behind it on a bench and chair and use the "Normal" (non-programmed) mode.  One nice feature of the 1050 in the "Normal" mode is the ability to simulate the randomness of hitting with a partner by setting both a range of locations (right to left) and a range of ball speeds.   These get combined randomly so that you get the kind of variety of incoming balls that you get when drilling with a partner even though you have control of the general area and type shot coming at you.

 

If you get a 1050 and want to practice against loops I would strongly suggest moving the 1050 several feet back from the table and a little lower than the normal height.  This allows it to imitate the speed and tracetory of a loop better than in the close to the table position.

 

If you do get a robot please post back about your choice and how it worked out.

 

Good luck with your practice.

 

Mark

 

I have always felt it was the other way around with the Newgy.   I never can get enough spin when it imitates serves (especially short serves) or I try to get it to simulate slow spinny loops.   In order to get enough spin for what I think are regular loops I have to move it back off the table so I can crank the speed up. 

 

Is your experience with the older 1040/2040 machines or the newer 1050/2050 machines?

 

Is there any particular shot simulation (pushes, chops, serves, drives, etc) where you find that the spin is greater than actual players produce?

 

Regardless, you make a good point about the Newgy being a one-wheel robot and how the 2-wheel ones can produce a wider variety of shots.  It is something the original poster should consider.

 

Mark

 

Great for footwork exercises though.

 

One thing I would say - if you're happy with the features of the 1050, I would go that bit further and get the 2050 because you get a recyling system.  You won't have to keep stopping to fill the ball hopper up again yourself.

 

And if you're going that far, perhaps consider the SuperMaster Gen5 robot, which is very similar to the 2050 but cheaper...

Think about it this way. You say your 1600. So your practice partners are about 12-1900ish. Every once in a while you will get a good ralley going, but most of the time you prob miss within the first 5-7 hits. with a robot you can get into a rythem and get your feel for the ball and your motion. ( your start point and your end point ). This is the start of cosistancy and your way to 2000+. Then there is foot work. Once again, your partners will miss more often and get you out of your rythem, thus not giving you the consistancy that is needed.

When you can create a rythem with your shots. You become more prepared for those ralley that go for many hits. Remember its all muscle memory. Your body doesn't know the diffrence between a robot and a person. All it knows is, it better be ready for the next shot beacuse another ball is coming.

I love my robot and will gladly recomend it to anyone.

Last night I went to play, and as usual there was almost nobody willing to just hit the ball, and no real table time to practice, except with one friend, who is a good player (and nice guy) that hits fast spinny balls to the corners, and pips drop shots in at the net, but plays a completely odd game otherwise.  I guess I should see that as footwork practice.  The rest of the time was spent losing a very frustrating match against another player (who I can beat 3-0 if I'm playing well and my attack shots are hitting) before I went home early in disgust.  My forehand chop missed most of the times I tried it.  My pips smash hit one time out of maybe 5 tries in the match, maybe twice in the 35 mins I played out of probably 8 or 10 tries.  I recall 2 or 3 points where my forehand smash won the point, and only once did the low forehand bullet shot land on the table out of probably 4 or 5 tries.  The game I won was by weird serves, pushing, chopping, and only maybe 2 or max 3 of the 11 points were made by hitting the ball on pop ups, and I had no fun even winning the game because the only way I could win points was to avoid attacking. 

I probably should record the play or at least make notes after each game while its fresh in my mind what happened.

Anyway, it was very frustrating, enough to make me just want to break the paddle in half and quit playing.  I get so many nights like that. The problem is I'm trying to do this for fun, exercise, and stress reduction, and if I play badly its no fun at all, and I go home stressed and unhappy, instead of playing 2 or 3 hours and getting some good exercise.

People are still beating me on the corners, though, and the only thing that will help that is better setups and better reaction times, both of which will require a lot of practice to get to where they are automatic.

My plan is to to find a way to log my current ability or lack thereof vs the robot once I find some drills that can test these shots, and then as time goes by, I'll just watch to see if my skills vs the robot improve, and if that translates to any improvement in real matches or not.

I agree with the concept.  I had a hard time getting it setup to where the speed calibration landed the ball correctly.  I had to set the angle for 7 instead of 8 and reduce speed down to 3.  

Once I did that I tried drill #6 because its similar to my real world problem where I want my low smash FH to work (I'm left handed, so those are the 2 balls to a righty's backhand), and also need my BH to return some sort of ball that isn't easily smashed, like low to the body, for example.  I had to increase the wait adjust to 60% to be able to handle it well.  Once I get a USB to Serial adapter that works I think I'll use #6 as a starting point to create a good practice routine for me.  I like the idea of slowing it till you can do it, then once you master it, increase the tempo a bit, and learn to master it at the faster tempo before increasing the tempo again.  I'm getting about 100 balls out of it, and hopefully will get better at it enough soon that I can at least count the ones that miss.  Initially, my number of misses is high, but the good thing is that at least on the FH side, I'm using the low smash that I had hoped to practice.

PS: after playing with it an hour, I can say for sure that it will be a lot more useful than my old 38mm robot was, and a lot more useful than it would have been if I'd just upgraded it to 40mm balls.  The drill thing is real good, and as far as dead balls, I can just practice with people with long pips.