Golfing robot sinks a hole-in-one at PGA event
Get ready to meet the next big thing in golf. LDRIC (Launch Directional Robot Intelligent Circuitry) is a robot that sunk a hole-in-one at a PGA event this week
The robotic sports star's moniker is -- phonetically -- in honor of Tiger Woods's birth name, "Eldrick." The robot made the hole-in-one on the 16th hole of the Waste Management Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, Arizona, on Wednesday.
LDRIC was developed by Golf Laboratories, a robotics company that develops machines like this one to test out new golf club designs. Pro golfer Gary McCord collaborated with the company on the robot. LDRIC has a pretty powerful swing -- it can hit a ball up to 130 mph and can replicate the swing of any golfer out there, its developers say.
"We're in the age of robots," Golf Laboratories president Gene Parente said in a video introducing LDRIC. "Golf is an incredibly difficult game and to see it done well and consistently is something that is alluring to the average player and the better player and the beginning player."
All of that being said, no athlete is perfect. It took LDRIC five tries before it successfully made the hole. Still, it's better than most human players can say for themselves.