Sony AI reported that its Ace table-tennis robot won matches against seven players with current or recent professional rankings in tests held from February to April 2026. The opponents included Miyuu Kihara and Miu Hirano. This extends the earlier Nature study, in which Ace beat elite players but had not yet outplayed professionals.
The Zurich-linked research team improved control, simulation, hardware and perception, with a single reinforcement-learning policy now handling nine skills. Sony published match-by-match results: the system won at least one match against seven of eight opponents, but lost all three against Ono. Matches followed official competition rules; several early assessments were internal, without external umpires.