Sensors in a golf teeing booth are used to: detect that a ball has be driven and estimate a predicted ball landing point on a golf practice range. A mobile unmanned golf ball retrieval vehicle, sometimes referred to as a gofer, determines a precise ball location on the field and reports the results to a control system. The control system updates the golfer's score based on the determined precise ball location.

A tennis-ball collector which includes a chassis, a drive train, an energy source, wheels, and a motor. The tennis-ball collector is useful for collecting scattered tennis balls after a game or practice without the need to bend and pick them up by hand. The device moves balls using a vacuum system or a drive belt.

Provided is a ball collecting drum, which is configured to roll on a surface to collect a plurality of balls on the surface. The ball collecting drum includes: a plurality of discs; an annular multi-row groove including annular grooves formed between adjacent discs of the plurality of discs. Ball pockets formed, on an outer periphery of the plurality of discs in the annular groove formed between the adjacent plurality of discs have elasticity to allow entry and exit of a ball, and are continuously formed in each of the annular grooves. Each of the ball pockets has a size so that only one ball is allowed to be held therein. The ball pockets formed in the adjacent annular grooves are formed at positions deviated from each other in a circumferential direction of the annular grooves.

A ball collection apparatus constituted of: a control circuitry; a body; motors; wheels arranged to rotate responsive to the motors, the body arranged to move along a surface responsive to the rotation of the plurality of wheels; a collection compartment arranged to maintain a ball within a predetermined area in relation to the body; a ball input port in communication with the collection compartment; and a ball ejector arranged to eject the ball from the collection compartment, wherein the control circuitry is arranged to: receive information regarding the location of the ball; responsive to the received information, control the at least one motor to advance the body towards the location of the ball, the collection compartment arranged to collect the ball through the ball input port; and control the ball ejector to eject the ball from the collection compartment and propel the ejected ball towards a predetermined target area.

A main body of a ball collecting and discharging machine includes a traveling portion and a ball collecting and discharging portion to collect and discharge balls. A controller causes the ball collecting and discharging portion to collect the balls scattered in a ball scattered area while causing the traveling portion to cause the main body to travel along a ball collecting route in the ball scattered area. When the ball collecting and discharging portion reaches a state of being ready to discharge balls during or after ball collecting work, the controller causes the traveling portion to cause the main body to travel along the ball discharging route and causes the ball collecting and discharging portion to discharge balls at the ball discharging site.

A ball collecting and discharging machine plans and travels on an autonomous traveling route in a designated region. A main body includes a travel motor. A ball collecting route travel schedule generator generates a ball collecting route along which the autonomous travel vehicle repeatedly reciprocates in a main direction in a traveling region. A travel controller moves the main body along the ball collecting route by controlling the travel motor. A route generator generates a ball collecting route including lap routes coupled together while shifted in a sub direction intersecting the main direction in the traveling region. Turn-around positions in the main direction of the respective lap routes include at least one set of turn-around positions shifted from each other.

A tennis ball retriever for retrieving a tennis ball on and about a tennis court and for controllably releasing the ball includes a front-end ball collector having two spaced-apart blades defining a ball collection space. The retriever includes one or more detents for retaining the collected ball in the collection space until a programmed or manually-directed release toward a target location such as a tennis baseline. The retriever includes a processor-controller for controlling and directing the retriever during a retrieval session. The retriever may be remote-controlled such as by voice commands.

An intelligent ball passing system is provided, including: a ball passing robot configured for carrying out a ball passing action according to human body postures, including: a video capture device (1) configured for acquiring human body posture data, a movement mechanism (2) configured for driving the ball passing robot to move according to a ball passing instruction, and a central processing module (3) connected to the movement mechanism (2) and the video capture device (1) respectively; and a software system configured for controlling the ball passing robot to carry out the ball passing action, the central processing module recognizing and classifying the human body postures by using the software system that uses a BP neural network.

A basketball shot practice station with movable positioning of the backboard and basket relative to a stationary shooting position of a user. A projection-mapped court image is projected on the floor of the station from the viewpoint of the user based on the basket position. Cameras image the shooter and the ball flight. A control system analyzes the shooter's technique and ball trajectory, categorizes the shot results, and automatically adjusts the basket position to produce a given success rate by the user. It stores a profile of each user, and updates the user's shooting statistics and skill level based on the shot results of each session. It initializes the profile with a default skill level based on initial input data. It may estimate a user's age, height, and strength based on their image and weight. It increases the shot distance and backboard angles with increasing skill level.

A dual functional robot for collecting rollable objects capable of an upright position and a horizontal position, in which the robot includes a way to propel the robot; a way to control propulsion of the robot; a way to locate the rollable object; a way to collect the rollable object; a way to store the rollable object; a way to support the robot and allow the robot to move across a surface in a low-friction manner; and a way to stably reorient the robot from the horizontal position into the upright position.