Re(5): What is Perfect Play in Singles for the First Four Exchanges? Posted on April 22, 2023 at 11:49:16 AM by Craig G
This is all speculation of something that is never going to happen. However, the main question is whether your assertion that the human can't cover anything can be challenged via closer analysis of available data.
If the cancha is about 170-180 feet in length, then we can work out the exact distance that needs to be covered to get to the 1-line from the serve line. Since you aren't going this route, and granting the android superhuman throwing abilities, then we can work within the parameters of human athletes.
Eg, from a baseball discussion on stealing second base:
The average time it takes a pitcher to deliver to the plate from the stretch is 1.4 seconds, and the average time it takes for the catcher to get the ball to second base is 2.0 seconds. So the runner has to cover 90 feet in less than 3.4 seconds, which translates to an effective running speed of just over 18 MPH.
The average sprint speed for a typical human is around 15 MPH. Most elite sprinters reach 21–22 MPH routinely. A baseball player would have to be able to attain a sprint speed about midway between that of an average human and that of an elite sprinter in order to beat most catchers.
...
I think the answer is that most baseball players, under the right circumstances, are fast enough to be able to steal second against most pitcher/catcher combinations.
So, going along those lines, if the human jai-alai server could read the R's shot, he might be able to cover the necessary ground to have a chance to field the pelota.
Additionally, although you grant the android pinpoint precision, because this would be real-world, it might turn out that for the extremely obtuse angle that would be needed for a long reverse carom thrown from the hole that cuts out at the one, a random factor such as how the stitches make contact with the side wall could be a built-in physical limitation of the precision.
Also, none of these shots, including dejadas from the back wall, are currently being thrown, so we won't find any cases of players trying to defend them.
But it does seem to me that we are right at the edge of what the human might be able to handle. Even if it came down to rock-paper-scissors guessing.
As for the questions about MC distances, it would be great if we could get the exact dimensions of the court, including the position of each marker line. We could then do a video analysis to work out these times.
I wonder if anybody could provide them. I could be wrong, but I think that even without using the theoretically correct equations for mass / speed / gravity / air resistance / spin factors (eg- Coriolis effect), etc, we could measure the average speed from the instant of server release to the point of contact at the front wall, and then correlate the average drop-off in average speed from the front wall to the position where the pelota is caught. I would find that much more interesting and revealing than just having a radar value of the speed at the point of release.
