The download: Robotic table-tennis, future space habitats and more

What’s new?

Google DeepMind announced that it had trained a robot in table tennis to the level of an amateur. The company claims that this is the first time robots have been taught to compete with humans on a human-level. The system is not perfect. The table tennis bot beat 55% of the amateur players and all beginners, but lost to all advanced players. It’s still an impressive advancement. The research is a step toward creating robots capable of performing useful tasks in real environments such as homes and warehouses. This has been a long-standing robotics goal. Read the full story.

–Rhiannon WilliamsThis futuristic space habitat is designed to self-assemble in orbit

More people are traveling to space, but the International Space Station can only hold 11 people at a time. The Aurelia Institute, a nonprofit space architecture lab based in Cambridge, MA, has an approach that may help: a habitat that can be launched in compact stacks of flat tiles and self-assemble in orbit.Building large space habitats is difficult, and dangerous. The Aurelia Institute’s TESSERAE, which resembles a futuristic one-story soccer ball, may make the task easier. Read the full story.

–Sarah Ward