A robot that can track your position on the court, serve you a range of shots, and simulate actual tennis matches has raised over $1.7 million on Kickstarter. With weeks still left in the campaign, there's plenty of time to get in on the action.
While automated, remote-controlled, tennis-ball-serving machines are nothing new, the PongBot is striving to take the Challenge Cup in the field. It's got a heap of AI-assisted features baked in along with smart-tracking technology that sets it apart from its less smart brethren.
For starters, while the PongBot relies on a smartphone app to access its many features, it also comes with a small clip-on sensor that tracks your position on the court, allowing you to leave your heavy and delicate phone on the sidelines during play.
You can also utilize the app to create customized drills right down the individual ball level. For example, as illustrated in the following video, you could program the device to deliver a deep ball requiring a forehand return, followed by a short ball with a backhand return, followed by two volleys and an overhand shot.
Once a drill is created, it is saved by the app to be used again. The app also provides performance data after the drill is over, while the PongBot itself can deliver data to wearable devices like the Apple Watch and work with a range of intelligent rackets.
If you don't want to take the time to create a ball-by-ball program, the app also allows you to choose from up to 300 different pre-programmed drills, each with three levels of difficulty. There's also an AI-fueled real-match training feature in which the PongBot constantly reads your position on the court and analyzes your performance level, and then times the speed and spin of each subsequent ball appropriately.
For recovery days, or for beginning players, the PongBot can be moved closer and used in "toss" mode where it gently lobs a ball toward the player – that ball can be caught by hand and then served, or simply volleyed after a bounce. The machine can hold 150 balls, has a serve interval of between 1.5 to 12 seconds, and comes with a swappable rechargeable battery that provides up to eight hours of runtime. It can serve balls with either topspin, underspin, or no spin, and can get those spins moving at up to 60 rotations per second. The serve speed tops out at 80 mph (about 129 km/h).
There are two different PongBot models up for grabs: the Pace S and the Pace S Pro. Both have the fully programmable drill features and both deliver the same ball-serving specs seen above. A major difference between the two is that the Pro has 300 drills included versus just 120 for the S model, and only the Pro includes the AI real-match training described above.
Despite the astounding support for the PongBot (the makers were only seeking to raise about US$10,000), there are still super early bird awards left, will which snag you a Pace S for about US$699 (HK$5,431) and a Pro for US$899 (HK$6,985).
Normally, we'd caution spending so much on a crowdfunding platform, but the folks behind the PongBot seem quite solid. They have the backing of Qualcomm, have already created impressive ping-pong-playing robots, and there are plenty of videos showing the PongBot in operation (like the one below), so you're likely safe ponying up your cash for this robotic tennis partner.
Plus, if all goes according to schedule, the machines are due to ship this December, so you won't have to wait too long to start upping your backhand game.
Source: Kickstarter
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