There are already novelty robots that are better at isolated tasks. I'm wondering how long it'll take for generic real world NPC bots to show up. How long till there's a humanoid robot that can play like a human against other humans?
Golf is already kinda there. Stationary robots exist and a humanoid robot would be relatively easy.
Ping pong is done today with stationary robots but accomplishing it with humanoid robots would be really hard. I could see it taking years since the paddle and body need to move so fast.
Tennis could be done sooner. The robot just needs to be a fast runner and have a good swing.
Basketball could be pretty soon. Walking and dribbling and quickly shooting would be a lot harder but less of a challenge than other sports. The robot could "cheat" and play to its advantages unlike the previous sports listed.
Soccer won't be too long either. Just need fast enough humanoid robots.
Contact sports like football will of course take a lot longer. We could probably have a robotic quarter back in a decade but no one is going to rush to develop a robot that can tackle people.
So here are some useless predictions against amateurs.
Golf: ~2025
Basketball: ~2027
Soccer: ~2028
Tennis: ~2029
Ping Pong: ~2030
It's really useless to give dates but it's fun. All depends on how this first wave of applied humanoid robots goes. Maybe they'll struggle and we'll have essentially no progress anytime soon.
