Passing Partner is a machine that autotargets and launches a tennis ball to individuals without having to manually readjust the launcher for different pass types and positions. It is intended for all athletes and casuals who want to practice by themselves a sport that involves receiving. It is also intended for people who do not have a partner to pass to them when needed, which can be hard to efficiently practice alone and enhance certain skills.
It achieves this by using computer vision with a depth camera to detect where the target is located along the x, y, and z axis. It will also detect a certain hand gesture, and when the hands come together near the chest, only then will the launcher start tracking and targeting the person who gestured for the ball. Once a target has been selected, using the positional data from the camera, the launcher will move left or right depending on how the target is moving. Regardless of how many people are in the camera’s range, it will only stay locked onto the original target by rotating via a robot base underneath the launcher. Once the target has stood still for a few seconds, the ball will be released by a servo motor and launched at them by DC bike motors. The power of the shot is determined by the depth data from the camera. The CV targeting resets every time the target leaves the camera’s range or after the ball has been launched, and a new target is acquired once those hand gestures are shown to the launcher again.