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Big League Stew

Wed Apr 20 06:41pm EDT

Video: Watch Philadelphia’s baseball robot deliver the first pitch

By 'Duk

So that robot who threw out the first pitch at Wednesday's Philadelphia Phillies game?

Yeah, it definitely needs to head back to the minors for some more seasoning.

To be fair, the University of Penn engineers who built "PhillieBot" on a modified Segway frame told us to expect more of a robotic version of a soft-tossing Little Leaguer — about 30 or 40 mph — than one of the futuristic fireballers from "Base Wars," that old 8-bit Nintendo game.

But even with the robot positioned several feet in front of the mound and the Phillie Phanatic positioned in a crouch several feet in front of home plate, the pitch from the catapault-looking contraption still bounced in front of the furry green mascot.

The fans in the stands at Citizens Bank Park for "Science Day" booed and rightfully so.

Meanwhile, the player's union likely breathed a huge sigh of relief.  The machine's quest for the domination of mankind will likely be limited to "Jeopardy" and chess.

For now, at least.

A big BLS H/N to NBC Philadelphia for the video.


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