When it comes to table tennis robots, most people go choose from the more renowned manufacturers, like Newgy or iPong. But Y&T is another that’s worth looking at. Y&T table tennis robots are comparatively affordable.
Here, I’m going to do a quick review of the AMDT Y&T B3 table tennis robot, also known as the RO buddy. Y&T table tennis training robots actually come in several different varieties, but here we focus on the AMDT Y&T B3 robot review, one of the more popular models.
| AMDT Y&T B3 Table Tennis Robot Features | |
|---|---|
| Balls per minute | 28-80 |
| Ball capacity | 150 |
| Pre-programmed drills | None |
| Spins | Topspin, backspin and no-spin |
| Miscellaneous | Remote control, floor ball picker and ball collection net |
Table of Contents
AMDT Y&T B3 Robot Features
Manufactured in China, the Y&T table tennis robots are good for those who are on a tight budget. You won’t get as many features as on a Newgy robots – as seen in our Newgy table tennis robot review guide – but it will be more than adequate for a beginner or intermediate player to keep themselves busy.
The AMDT Y&T B3 table tennis robot works with both 40+ poly and celluloid balls, though you can’t mix both of them in the same session. It can hold up to 150 balls. This is enough for you to practice and play alone if you can’t find a companion to play with you.
The robot itself weighs about 6 lbs., featuring 3 different types of spins – topspin, backspin, and no-spin. It has a launch rate of 28-80 balls per minute at a speed of 3-28 m/s. The robot can also direct itself to target different points, covering about 75% of the table. It has an adjustable range of 20 cm. There are also 6 different settings for topspin and backspin, and 9 settings for frequency.
How Does The AMDT Y&T B3 Table Tennis Robot Work?
After loading it up, I set it to shoot at a fixed position, with it shooting just the corner of the table. When the robot starts up, it actually starts out pretty slow so you might have to turn up the speed.
You can adjust settings with the wireless remote control, which is quite handy. The remote’s buttons include pause, top wheel spin adjustment, bottom wheel adjustment, as well as frequency changes.
One of the biggest appeals of the AMDT Y&T B3 is that it’s a very affordable robot. It cost me just about $300 on Megaspin – and it came with a floor ball picker and a ball collection net that fits nicely over the table. You’ll also get some ping pong balls with the robot.
Once you get the settings right, it’s actually very accurate and it can throw the balls to the position where you want them to be. It does provide very good topspin on the ball, however, it is just not very good while launching the ball with the backspin.
As far as I can tell, the robot also has an oscillating feature where it will shoot the ball to the corners. This is really helpful for people to practice their movement or footwork while training on their stroke.
So if you get the settings right for you, and if you aren’t already an advanced player, it does fairly what it promises, and is very reliable in terms of performance.
There’s One Minor Issue
One issue I did note has to do with the little control panel down at the bottom of the robot that lets you adjust the robot. It can be rather difficult to maneuver because you can’t choose digitally and it is hard for you to see what settings are at.
You can only tell of the settings when it starts shooting balls off the back of the table. If the topspin is too high, for example, it may be difficult to figure out what you need to adjust to get the settings right. You may need some time to figure this out.
The AMDT Y&T B3 table tennis robot also comes with a small remote control. It is a little tricky to use because it can be difficult to play and adjust the remote at the same time.ย It also doesn’t work every time – sometimes it just stops working when you are trying to click it.
There exists a elder-sibling model above the B3 known as the B5, which I haven’t tried, but it has a display on the front that shows you the speed settings, which I’m sure would be immensely useful. So in order for me to get the right settings on this robot, I have to click the ‘-‘ button four times from the bottom all the way and then click it four times up for topspin, and then reset the frequency. I then have to click six times to get the right frequency.
This is all a bit of a hassle. I find that it ends up shooting a lot of balls long off the table. It’s a full-size table and if I’m playing a forehand loop and getting a topspin on it, it’ll shoot so many balls off the corner of the table.
That’s pretty frustrating because, in a real game, you couldn’t just let balls go by. You have to pretty much swing at everything. This was one of the downsides of this particular Y&T table tennis robot.
- Very affordable price compared to brands
- Reliable and consistent performance
- Accessories prove useful
- Good choice for a beginner on a tight budget
Cons:
- Settings adjustment can be tedious
- Remote doesn’t always work
- Does not perform shots randomly
- No pre-set training programs
- Not programmable
The AMDT Y&T B3 Works Well for Beginners
At the end of the day, table tennis robots are really valuable for practice and can really help you improve on your game. It still beats playback or not playing at all. The AMDT Y&T B3 is a good choice for those who don’t want to pay too much for a table tennis robot. It doesn’t have quite as many features as Newgy or iPong table tennis robots, but that may not trouble some newer players.
Read also: Get the best table tennis robot with these guidelines
Read also: List of iPong Table Tennis Robots
Warren Davies
