---
title: "Toyota’s Basketball Robot Can Nail Three-Pointers"
description: "Toyota's basketball-playing robot, Cue 3, isn't about to replace athletes, but it does herald a new era of incredibly-precise machinery."
date: "2019-04-01"
modified: "2019-04-01"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/toyota-basketball-robot"
categories:
  - "Robotics"
  - "Robots and Machines"
tags:
  - "robotics"
  - "sports"
  - "toyota"
---

# Toyota’s Basketball Robot Can Nail Three-Pointers

![Toyota's basketball-playing robot, Cue 3, isn't about to replace athletes, but it does herald a new era of incredibly-precise machinery.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/toyota-basketball-robot.png>)
*\<em\>Image: Stefan Schulz/Alexander Lesnitsky via Pixabay/Tag Hartman-Simkins\</em\>*

## Gym Class Hero

Toyota is on a mission to automate the NBA — it's built a six-foot-ten robot called Cue 3 that can nail three-pointers all day long.

In a demo for *[The Associated Press](<https://www.apnews.com/8c614a9231f94261b3a257af2c9f8f8e>)*, Cue 3 successfully threw five shots from the three-point line out of eight attempts — which would be [really good for a professional human player](<http://www.espn.com/nba/statistics/player/_/stat/3-points/sort/threePointFieldGoalPct>), and shows that robots are starting to handle more complex physical maneuvers than ever before.

## Computer Vision

Cue 3 looks like it was draped in chainmail — Toyota told the *AP* that it deliberately wanted to avoid the sleek, white Apple Store-esque look seen in "iRobot" and other common renderings of humanoid robots.

Keeping with that image, Cue 3 doesn't have a humanoid face. Rather, sensors in its torso create a 3D map of its surroundings that allow the robot to calculate how hard and high to toss the basketball.

## Free Throws Only

Today's robots, for all their bells and whistles — and sleek, iPhone-like designs — still generally excel only at extremely narrow tasks, be it assembling a car or [shuttling items in a warehouse](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/automated-warehouse-jd-mujin>). As such, Cue 3 can't run, dribble, or dunk.

But it excels at what it does. And given the complexity of successfully sinking a three-pointer — something this writer could never nail in gym class — Toyota's sportsbot may signify a new era for precision tasks in robotics.

**READ MORE:** [Toyota robot can’t slam dunk but shoots a mean 3-pointer](<https://www.apnews.com/8c614a9231f94261b3a257af2c9f8f8e>) \[*The Associated Press*\]

**More on basketball:** *[AI Coaches Are Here To Unleash Your Inner LeBron](<https://futurism.com/athletes-ai-coaches-homecourt>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)