Interactive Precision Ball Throwing Apparatus

Abstract

The present invention includes programs, devices and methods for a ball throwing machine that is able to consistently throw balls to the same preset position at the moment a user demands it by manually pressing a button, by user defined time interval, or by trigger events using sensing technologies. The user demands are sent and received by a wired or wireless connection. The present invention includes sensing method(s) to detect a user's motion and/or voice command, and throw balls to the preset position in a timely manner—at exactly the moment when the command is received, or with a pre-programmed delay. The trigger events includes a player's position, moving speed, and/or body position.

1 . A ball throwing apparatus comprises essentially of a ball delivery unit with a single solenoid actuator. The pulling action of the said solenoid activates a lever system which is used to magnify the solenoid displacement and speed; the said lever system swings in a vertical plane and throws the ball. 
     
     
         2 . The said ball throwing apparatus also comprises ball storage area and feeding mechanism. For the second embodiment, the said ball storage area comprises a ball dump-in area which also serves as a ball container. The said ball dump-in area is broad enough to hold at least 2 columns and two rows of balls. The said ball dump-in area is for users to dump balls instead of loading balls to the rails individually. The said ball dump-in area has a constant or increasing width along the ball feeding direction in order to avoid jamming, and it connects to a splitting area which leads to the two single-row ball tracks. 
     
     
         3 . The second embodiment of said ball throwing apparatus comprises of two tracks that both store and transfer balls. The said embodiment has a track selection and ball loading mechanism that is designed for alternating between tracks so balls on only one of the two tracks are allowed to come toward the end of track by their own gravity at each feeding operation. The said track selection and ball loading mechanism comprises a single solenoid actuator and a ball selection bar. At each time of electrical activating the said solenoid actuator will move the ball selection bar from current side to the other side and stays there until next activation. By switching side alternatively, the ball selection bar achieves three functions: 1. load one ball from the current side waiting position of one track onto the ready position; 2. prevent other balls on the same track rolling into the waiting position; 3. allow one ball from the other track rolling into the waiting position. Therefore, at each time of the electrical activation the said solenoid loads one ball from the current track on to the ready position, and switch the current track to the other track. 
     
     
         4 . The said ball throwing apparatus also has a ball delivery control system which is essentially a micro controller to control the main drive solenoid and the ball feeding mechanism. The said control system also gives audio and visual signals to the user before the ball is thrown; The said control system also receives and responds to user command such as but not limit to: pressing a button on a remote control connected to the control system with a wire or wirelessly. The said control system also has user interface allows users to set ball throwing parameters such as height, distance, interval, and delay constant after the throwing command. The said control system can also receive signals from sensors. The said control system can be set in auto mode, manual mode, or interactive mode. In the auto mode, the ball throwing apparatus will serve balls at a preset interval, with accuracy within a few milliseconds; in the manual mode, the ball throwing apparatus will serve a ball upon the user pressing a wired or wireless remote control button, or by a voice command; in the interactive mode, the ball throwing apparatus will use sensor(s) to detect a user's body motion and/or position to determine if and when the ball should be thrown for the user. The sensors used for interactive mode can be but not limited to: light sensing devices; proximity sensors with infrared, ultraviolet, and/or visible light detection, ultrasonic object and distance sensors, and mechanical switches. The sensors can be connected to the control system either by wire or in a wireless way. The remote control can be either held by the user, put on any user's finger as a ring, put on any user's wrist as a wrist band, or attached to other sports equipment such as but not limited to a racquet or a bat. 
     
     
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