Are RoboPartners worth it?

Matt Foster Asked 12 years ago

Hi all,

I've always been a casual table tennis player but I've recently (within the last 6 months or so) started to take it much more seriously. Thanks in no small part to the videos these guys put up, my game has improved by orders of magnitude.

Unfortunately, I go to school out in Indiana, not a state known for it's bustling table-tennis scene. So I was wondering, does anyone have any experience with robotic ball feeders? I.e. the Newgy RoboPong. Are they worth it?

I feel like my backhand shots (flick, chop, and block) are my vastly superior shots to my forehand. However, playing against a wall and against somebody who has a very unorthodox style (i.e. he doesn't follow any traditional rules so it's hard to get a game going) doesn't get me very far when trying to practice.

Thanks!

Matt

Alois Rosario Answered 12 years ago

Hi Matt,

Thanks for the kind words. I think that the robots are useful for repetitive hitting. They are limited because you aren't seeing the movements of the player hitting the ball which is one thing that you do learn.

I am sure that others will give you their experiences as well.

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andrew brand Posted 12 years ago

if a robot is all you can get to train with they are definitely worth it. even if you find someone to train with you will still want to pratise new shots and they are a brilliant tool for this, example topspinning against backspin balls you can do hundreds of shots against reliable backspin in an hour, where its harder for especially a beginner to feed you good quality heavy backspin again and again. also if you struggle against someone that has a heavy topspin loop you can set it to just feed you heavy topspin shots and you can start learning the bat angle to block them, and move on to topspin them back eventually. same against sidespin etc, they have lots of uses, but the downside is that they dont really help matchplay that much as the spin is the same all the time, but you can train footwork by setting the oscillation to put one ball on the fh side, then one on the bh side. i got one off ebay from china for $249 and it is really useful when a certain stroke needs work.

Arnon Thaicharoen Posted 12 years ago

I bought one so you know I think it's worth it.

Situation when robot excels are:

You have no practice partner. One that is always willing to practice with you.
You want to practice certain strokes. Robot can feed balls with the same speed/spin/placement. Human cannot compete with it in this regard.
You want to practice footwork drills. Robot has pre-programmed drills that can help you moving while hitting the balls.

Matt Foster Posted 12 years ago

Cheers, Arnon and Andrew

I think, once I look into some return policies and that sort of stuff I'll try one out.

-- Matt

Rajesh Sawant Posted 12 years ago

Hi Matt,

I have purchased Newgy pong Robo 2050 and I found its really worth. Its good for practicing alone and especially when you want to mastering particular strokes. If you are in US then its not that much costly to purchase it. Outside of US its costly.

Apart from thses advantage I found one disadvantage that you can not adjust(increase/decrease) amount of spin and there is no facility for automatically adjust angle of robo head. If you are serious player and want to master skills then robo is worth for practice.

Thanks,

Rajesh Suhas Sawant