Penn robot throws Phillies' first pitch

A new robot created by Penn engineers may someday put the Philadelphia Phillies’ Cliff Lee out of a job.

On Wednesday, as part of the Philadelphia Science Festival, a robot from Penn’s General Robots, Automation, Sensing and Perception Laboratory threw the first pitch for a Phillies’ game.

According to associate director of Research and Education Outreach Rebecca Stein, the GRASP lab decided to lend a hand to spread science awareness. To this end, GRASP constructed a pitching robot — called “PhillieBot” — that could open for the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

Vijay Kumar worked with a team made up of researchers Jamie Gewirtz, Jordan Brindza and mechanical engineering graduate student Christian Moore. Together, they adapted old robots, by “integrating components so they all worked together” and by increasing the force of the arm.

Unlike a pitching machine made up of two wheels that would shoot the ball out, the GRASP-designed robot works with “more of a real motion of what a real pitch would be,” Brindza said. The robot is a conglomerate of a Segway, a mechanical arm and other additions such as a mitt-like scoop.

In the future, the robot could be outfitted with a camera that could detect stance and find the strike zone.

The team had to work on designing a “wrist that would … give it that push,” Gewirtz said. To get the human pitching motion right, the team has been playing catch with the robot.

The human arm was a way for the GRASP team to make the robot “look a little more relatable” so it could “look alive,” said Gewirtz. Although a pitching machine may have similar capabilities, the GRASP robot is more interactive and relatable. The team hopes that a more human-like robot will inspire more interest in the spirit of Philadelphia Science Festival, which runs until April 28.

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