Tennibot: vacuums up tennis balls, saving you time and hassle

A ball retrieving Roomba of tennis courts has just launched on Kickstarter. It promises to vacuum up tennis balls, saving you time and hassle.

Perfecting your tennis shots takes countless hours of practice. With that, comes the tedious chore of picking up hundreds and hundreds of tennis balls. Tennibot does this job for you. The robotic tennis ball collector uses multiple sensors and a camera to detect and quickly sweep up balls around the court.

“Tennibot is the only robotic or autonomous solution that can pick up balls while you are playing,” said Haitham Eletrabi, inventor of the device.

“Tennibot perfectly integrates computer vision and artificial intelligence to save tennis players, coaches, and tennis clubs from wasted time and effort.”

You can let Tennibot work autonomously using the camera station which easily attaches to a net-post. Or use the accompanying smartphone app to let the robotic tennis ball collector know where on the court it should clear. The removable bucket can hold up to 80 tennis ball at a time.

You can even manually drive it if you wish to do so. It runs at speeds of 1.4 miles per hour and can be used on clay and hard courts. The app also keeps tabs on how many balls were collected during a session and how often you practice.

Essential reading: Tennis gadgets and trackers to improve your game

The portable design lets you wheel Tennibot on and off the court, just like a suitcase. Its compact size and practical design also means it fits nicely in the trunk of a car. Its battery offers between 4 and 5 hours of run-time, and requires 90 minutes to recharge.

The Tennis Industry Association runs an annual Tennis Innovation Challenge. The competition is meant to identify the most innovative and creative product or service in the tennis industry Tennibot was chosen as the winner last year.

If you find you’re spending more time picking up tennis balls than actually hitting them, this gizmo might be right up your alley. It is rather pricey, though. Early backers can expect to pay upwards of $675, which is still significantly less than the $1,000 it will sell for when it becomes available. Delivery to backers is expected early next year.

Price: $675 and up

Funding open:

$39,231 raised out of $35,000 goal
42 days to go

Estimated delivery: January 2019

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