SenseRobot Go

General Go Discussion
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Has anyone purchased one of these?

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They had them at the EGC in Toulouse last year that Fan Hui 2p was selling.

I’ve seen a few people that bought them. I think maybe Catalin Taranu 5p might’ve bought one.

I’ve seen posts online also of different Go clubs and associations on Instagram getting them like the Argentinian Go Association, the Yverdon Go Club in Switzerland.

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How does the robot pick up stones? Are they magnetic?

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webpage says yes

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I’m really quite tempted. but I wonder what customer support might be like when nobody in the US seems to have one.

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I think this gadget is interesting for go clubs or go federations, to attract visitors at promotional events, but not so much for individuals.

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True

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I read this detailed review on Reddit, and I thought it had some interesting comments:

https://www.reddit.com/r/baduk/comments/17djabz/sensetimes_senserobot_review/

QUOTE:

Ok, 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.

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