I'm looking for help in designing and prototyping a machine (Machine) that will 'play catch' with a person (Player) using a regulation baseball. The interaction between the Player and the Machine should simulate the experience of a person-to-person game of catch reasonably closely:
1. The Machine should offer a target for the Player when s/he is throwing the ball, catch the ball (take it in and queue it for throwing) if the Player throws it reasonably close to the target, and play a 'catch' sound at the moment the ball arrives.
2. The Machine should throw the ball back to the Player (using existing pitching-machine technology or another method) reasonably accurately from at least 60' away. The height and speed of the throws should be adjustable; if possible, the height should be adjustable enough to enable 'pop up' throws without a lot of adjustments.
3. The pace and rhythm of the back-and-forth throwing and catching should approximate an actual game of catch.
4. The Machine should have a mechanism for reloading balls that it catches. It should also have extra balls queued or ready to be queued in case the Machine can't catch all the Player's throws.
5. (Optional) The Machine should have a screen displaying a swappable photo or video of a person who the Machine represents, so that the Player can play catch with anyone s/he chooses by uploading a photo or video to the Machine. It should also have audio input/output so the Player can converse with the 'person behind the Machine' s/he is playing catch with, either in real time or by having the Machine play pre-recorded snippets between throws.
About the recuiterMember since May 20, 2018 Jonathon Wittev
from Ontario, Canada