h a l f b a k e r yA dish best served not.
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We've got robot vacuum cleaners and robotic lawn mowers to help get the work done, it's time we made a robot to help get the playing done. A simple modification to one of those roomba's could make it recognize tennis balls at rest in a 5 foot strip along the outside edge of a tennis court and pick them
up. Periodically it would return to a bucket near the playing area and dump all of the collected balls into it.
Preheated, at least, by college students in design classes
http://www.google.c...search=&safe=images
[normzone, Nov 17 2004]
Ball dogs
http://www.halfbake...om/idea/Ball_20Dogs
There is no need for this idea, if only more Ball Dogs would be used. [bungston, Nov 17 2004]
Prior art: Nerf version
http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/NerfBot
(blatant self promotion) [krelnik, Nov 19 2004]
"So what happens when you breed a ball boy with a flocking road cone?"
http://www.flickr.c...unchofpants/256284/
This photo (and 91 other road cone/bollard photos) was found on the "www.funkypancake.com" blog, which I've found to be one of the more consistently appealing sites for its slightly offbeat and, I daresay, 'halfbaker-ish' view of the pedestrian things in our world. [jurist, Nov 20 2004]
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We have devices to shoot the balls, so add one to pick them up and return them and we can eliminate the human element altogether. |
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the balls get stuck under the net a lot of the time - will these gizmos trip up the players? |
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po - They could be programmed so they wouldn't get in the way. If no ball crossed over the net during a 20-30 second break it would make a quick dash along the net to get those balls. The players could take that time to catch their breath. |
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An extension of this application - the Robot Ball Boy could be modified to retrieve baseballs for kids who are good hitters but can't find enough players to cover the outfield (thereby reducing the boredom they go through now as they wait while someone goes and runs down the ball). It could also fetch golf balls at driving ranges. |
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So what happens when you breed a ball boy with a flocking road cone? |
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The robot picks up balls for a while, then wanders off to drop them into the nearest set of roadworks. |
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I was kicked off the ball-girl team for being too slow. I ... think I could probably beat a Roomba in a 40-yard dash, so this would be slightly more than "a simple modification". |
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Roomba along the lines + tennis player running to get a ball = broken ankle.
Roomba along the net + tennis player running to the net = broken ankle. |
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Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing depends on how you feel about tennis players. But if you had to insure the company that makes those, would you? |
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jutta - I was thinking this would be more for amateur weekend players who'd have a bucket nearby to pick new balls from each time one went out of play. This new roomba would check the area above the net every now and then and if it didn't see any activity for 20-30 seconds it would scoot along the net to get those balls. The players would have to be pretty slow if it took them longer than that to hit a return shot so it would be a safe bet that any break lasting that long was intentional. |
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Why not just build a tennis court on a gradient that falls away to one corner? The balls will automatically collect there. |
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[wagster] "Tennis on a hill" is a separate idea. Please post it separately so we can discuss. :) |
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this idea could be applied to any sport that uses a ball, not just tennis. for instance it would be highly usefull a golf shooting range, or at batting practice on an open field. |
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The robot need not be around any ankles. Why not a crane which vacuums the balls into a hose? You could have a button on your bracelet to call a new ball from the hopper, at which time the hose drops down and slups up the last one. |
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Not, I suppose, suitable for a baseball field. |
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[tiro] no, but good for a batting cage perhaps. |
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What sophocles said, please. |
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