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 mower includes a first traveling unit which travels on a ground, a first operating unit which is joined to the first traveling unit and includes a blade which mows grass on the ground, and a guide member provided in front of the first traveling unit. While the first traveling unit travels forward, balls (objects) on the ground and in contact with the guide member move along the guide member.

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.

Provided is a highly reliable, cost-effective scattered object collection system that can efficiently collect scattered objects by reducing unnecessary traveling of a traveling collector. The scattered object collection system includes a traveling collector that performs a collecting operation by picking up balls B while traveling in a work area W, sets a virtual work area Z (or a virtual priority work area Za) to an area in the work area W where balls are relatively densely present and in the vicinity of the storage space of balls, and allows the traveling collector to perform a collecting operation in the virtual work area Z (or the virtual priority work area Za) with higher priority than the other areas.

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media are disclosed for autonomous tennis assistant systems having autonomous ball machines such as an autonomous and interactive tennis ball ejection robot. Example methods include determining, by a device, the position of a first player on a tennis court, determining a first target location for a first tennis ball to be ejected toward the first player, generating a trajectory for the first tennis ball to reach the first target location, and causing ejection of the first tennis ball from the tennis ball ejection robot along the generated trajectory toward the first target location. A base station may be used to provide image data for use by the tennis ball ejection robot from one or more additional vantage points.

A robotic collection system includes: a working robot configured to autonomously travel on a field to collect target objects on the field; and a management controller configured to manage a work schedule of the working robot. The management controller includes a processor. The processor obtains information about an amount of the target objects on the field, and changes an existing work schedule based on the information.

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 a means for gripping and securing a ball positioned at the fore end, and 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.

Provided is a highly reliable, cost-effective scattered object collection system that can determine the correct position of each scattered object on the ground, such as a ball, and efficiently collect scattered objects by reducing unnecessary traveling of an autonomous collector. The scattered object collection system includes an autonomous collector that performs a collecting operation by picking up balls B while traveling in a work area W and a collector management unit that manages the autonomous collector. The collector management unit acquires positional information on the autonomous collector, identifies an actual position where each ball B was picked up in the work area W using the acquired positional information, and allows the autonomous collector to perform a collecting operation in a place having a high density of balls B with higher priority than a place having a low density of balls B using the identified actual positional information on each ball B.

A path generating method includes setting a moving direction at each of two positions, setting a first turning circle with one of the positions as a contact point and the moving direction as a turning direction, setting a second turning circle that is within a specific area, setting a Dubins path that starts from a predetermined point of the second turning circle or ends at the predetermined point, and selecting, as a movement path, a path that is within the specific area among paths each including the first turning circle and the Dubins path.

A ball supply apparatus includes: a housing coupled to the upper portion of the column structure, wherein a top portion of housing is partially opened, wherein the housing is divided by a partition into a ball storage portion and a ball discharge portion, wherein a bottom face of the ball storage portion is inclined downward toward the ball discharge portion, wherein a first opening is formed in a bottom of the ball discharge portion, and a second opening is formed in the partition at a lower portion thereof; a rotatable opening/closing plate rotatably coupled to the partition, wherein the rotatable opening/closing plate is configured to rotate to open/close the second opening; and a ball discharge tube rotatably coupled to the ball discharge portion at the first opening, wherein the ball discharge tube ball-communicates with the ball discharge portion via the first opening.