A towering robot with facial recognition could improve your table tennis game

• Omron's Forpheus towering robot straddles a standard table and uses facial recognition to improve its opponent's skills.
• The robot was unveiled at the annual CES conference in Las Vegas.

The next top table tennis trainer just might be a towering robot with facial recognition.

Omron's Forpheus robot straddles a standard table and uses facial recognition to improve its opponent's skills. Forpheus reads your expressions to tell what kind of player you are, advancing the level of play as needed.

"That human-machine interface is the big connection," said Nigel Blakeway, CEO of Omron Management Center of America. "The collaboration that we have with the player and the robot is really demonstrating all of Omron innovation capability."

The robot was unveiled at the annual CES in Las Vegas and is not for sale.