Biggest disappointment? No integration with OGS That, or the slow feeling of the interface when navigating menus
By the way: If you have one of these devices please do join the OGS group: SenseRobot Fan Club I’d love to play a game “with” you
Anyways, that’s a summary of my thoughts so far. I am sharing because I haven’t seen very much written about how good or bad this gadget is for an adult – as an adult, I can say it’s pretty fun! If you have any questions, feel free to shoot them my way. I’d be happy to share more depending on what people are interested in hearing.
The short answer is you have to know someone who either already has a robot or already has the companion smartphone app who wants to play a game.
The software only lets you create a person-versus-person game on the device itself, so no: It is not connected to any existing go server. The device makes a “Room Code” that then can be typed into either another robot or on the app. There is no lobby of other robo players waiting to play a game nor any kind of automatic human-v-human matchmaking.
Moreover, there are no “friend lists” either so everything has to be coordinated outside of the robot each game before creating+sharing the room code just before you start the game. Kinda limited, but it works.
This is an interesting quote coming from a reddit subscriber
(quote:)
so here is my take on the product:
The good:
The hardware is very very very good. I really wants to emphasis that, the playing experience is so delightful, so smooth, very close to perfect.
The bad:
The software part is poor, and somehow all that good hardware is wasted. But that is because I am not the target audience for the product.
Let me explain: In my understanding, the target audience for this product:
is not professional Go players
is not amateur Go players, or serious players
is not Go school or Go teachers
is not children playing Go
the target audience for this game are parents that send their child to Go school. That’s who they try to sell their product to.
It’s very obvious when you look at their advertisement (you can find them on Youtube). As a result, the emphasis is put on weird stuff like how it provide a friend at home for lonely children, or how it protects the eye sight of the child. A lot of though as been put on how to use and set up the equipment only using a smartphone (in China, most family won’t have computer in fact), with online services (some of them might not be free). But indeed, a child, even from rich family, would not spend that much money on such product (he would spend it on a PlayStation instead). But their parent would, and I wonder how may of those robot will be taking dust at home after that.
All of this should not be an issue. But then other aspects have been neglected, mainly the possibility to connect it to your own computer, and choose the bot you want to play against.
That’s the biggest issue. I think they selected a couple of LeelaZero or katago networks based on ELO score during their training, or something similar to play at different Kuy level, and as expected the result is very very bad. Not being able to take full advantage of the hardware without a internet connection and a myriad of accounts on Chinese platform is a deal breaker.
Well I lived a long time in China and I feel this analysis of the robot has some substance. A bit of a luxurious gadjet aiming to the wallet of Chinese parents.
That is an interesting post from reddit. Even though I am not the supposed “target audience”, I must say I am still am getting enjoyment from the device.
On the AI front: I agree that the device would be better if you could plug in any bot, but I don’t find that to be a dealbreaker. For me, I am satisfied with the spread and playstyles of the bot levels available on the device. The levels are quite granular and I appreciate being able to work my way up.
I had the opportunity to play with SenseRobot this summer, it was quite fun and cute, tho i found its slow moments quite jarring and potentially even dangerous >___>
I didnt test whether it would stop before crushing my fingers, but i found it too easy to forget that it pics my captured stone off from the board, and places that stone back into my bowl. Gotta learn to wait till it stops moving before responding to its moves xD
But still, it was great fun and if i had an extra grand, i might buy one for myself ^^
Just curious … if there’s something like a USB socket, where perhaps the manufacturer can provide updated firmware as both the interface and the AI bot receive future enhancements?
That, or the slow feeling of the interface when navigating menus