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 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.

An autonomous robot that collects tennis balls on a tennis court surface and transfers them into a tennis ball shooter.

An autonomous golf ball picking system configured to pick up golf balls from an outdoor environment. The system includes a route map defining a path to pick up golf balls from the ground. The route map is in a computer readable format. An unmanned ground vehicle having a base unit having an internal ball retention compartment, a ball picking roller configured to pick up golf balls from the ground and to deposit the picked-up golf balls into the internal ball retention compartment, at least two linked wheels, each of the at least two linked wheels driven by an independent motor and configured to move the unmanned ground vehicle around the ground, a battery to provide power to the unmanned ground vehicle, and an unmanned ground vehicle computer system. The computer system is capable of reading the route map and sending directional instructions to the independent motors in order to drive the unmanned ground vehicle along the path set out according to the route map. The system further includes a docking station configured to receive the unmanned ground vehicle upon completion of picking up golf balls according to the route map. The docking station having a golf ball receiving bin configured to receive the picked golf balls from the internal ball retention compartment and to recharge the vehicle's battery.

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media are disclosed for autonomous tennis assistant systems. Example methods include determining, by a device, an outer boundary line of a tennis court, generating a digital representation of the tennis court using the outer boundary line, where the digital representation includes at least a portion of an out-of-bounds area adjacent to the outer boundary line, determining a first location of a first tennis ball, and causing a tennis ball retrieval robot to move to the first location to retrieve the first tennis ball, where the tennis ball retrieval robot is wirelessly connected to the device.