Tennis ball picker upper
This robot will be able to pick up tennis balls on the court autonomously using cameras and AI detection to figure what is a ball. It will be able to create an optimized path to pick up the balls. We have 3-d modeled our chassis on onshape.
Created by
a**an
Tier 2
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a**an
added to the journal ago
Ball Detection Code
Next, I wanted to touch upon the basics of my ball detection code. I am not too experienced to code and python so making something like this took lots of time, patience, and understanding. I decided to code the program in python(mostly because my mom said to). After many videos, help from my mom, and a bit of AI I was able to get a basic version of my ball detection. The code is able to detect the ball from its color, and whether it is a circle or not. At the start it was mostly going off color which was inconsistent because it was picking up other objects with a similar color such as pencils. I also added some code to show the (x,y) coordinates above the ball. 
a**an
added to the journal ago
Devoloped V2 CAD
I realized that my other CAD just wasn't what I wanted so I decided to restart. Now I had some better CAD skills, so I felt ready to recreate my version of the robot. Now I was able to add slots for the wheels a place for the balls to go and better bucket and the arms for the balls to get directed into
. This still needed some more work, but I was proud with what I had done.
a**an
added to the journal ago
Developed V1 CAD
Next, I worked on my CAD. I didn't have the best CAD skills in the world but enough for me to get my idea out. The CAD software that I have used is Onshape which is great because it had many tools for me to get my idea out. This is my first version of the CAD and is something I definitely need to work on. I did not finish!
a**an
added to the journal ago
Researched Parts
Next, I worked on what parts to use which also got me thinking on what extra features and microcontrollers I wanted to use. After some research I realized to optimize the robot as much as I can there needed to be lots of sensors. Some sensors i wanted to use was proximity, color, and a camera. If there was something i could code to do all of this at once then that would be perfect
a**an
added to the journal ago
Getting Idea on how I wanted it to look like
I used AI and described to it how exactly I wanted the final model to look like so I could know what I was working towards. The pictures went through many iterations before it got to how I wanted it to look but after many frustrating moments I did it. This was not exactly how I wanted it to look but I knew what I had to change. I HOPE THIS DOES NOT CROSS COMMUNITY GUIDELINES!! this was just for me to get an idea for how I wanted it roughly to look and as u can see my CAD does not look like this but is original.
a**an
added to the journal ago
Set up a plan on some ideas for the mechanisms and sketched
I brainstormed some ideas for the projects and made a sketch for each one. For each one I looked at some designs made by other people and thought how I could incorporate this into mine. This step took lots of research. I even asked my tennis coach on some ideas and what he has always wanted in a tennis ball feeder. My coach gave me many ideas helping me iterate more on what I wanted to do. I thought of new ideas which was kind of a struggle since there was already so many on the internet. This taught me that I didn't need to create something totally original. So, after some careful consideration and LOTS of research I decided to take a variety of ideas from different robots making mine.
a**an
started Tennis ball picker upper ago
2/4/2026 7:02 PM - Set up a plan on some ideas for the mechanisms and sketched
I brainstormed some ideas for the projects and made a sketch for each one. For each one I looked at some designs made by other people and thought how I could incorporate this into mine. This step took lots of research. I even asked my tennis coach on some ideas and what he has always wanted in a tennis ball feeder. My coach gave me many ideas helping me iterate more on what I wanted to do. I thought of new ideas which was kind of a struggle since there was already so many on the internet. This taught me that I didn't need to create something totally original. So, after some careful consideration and LOTS of research I decided to take a variety of ideas from different robots making mine.
2/4/2026 7:27 PM - Getting Idea on how I wanted it to look like
I used AI and described to it how exactly I wanted the final model to look like so I could know what I was working towards. The pictures went through many iterations before it got to how I wanted it to look but after many frustrating moments I did it. This was not exactly how I wanted it to look but I knew what I had to change. I HOPE THIS DOES NOT CROSS COMMUNITY GUIDELINES!! this was just for me to get an idea for how I wanted it roughly to look and as u can see my CAD does not look like this but is original.
2/18/2026 - Researched Parts
Next, I worked on what parts to use which also got me thinking on what extra features and microcontrollers I wanted to use. After some research I realized to optimize the robot as much as I can there needed to be lots of sensors. Some sensors i wanted to use was proximity, color, and a camera. If there was something i could code to do all of this at once then that would be perfect
2/19/2026 - Developed V1 CAD
Next, I worked on my CAD. I didn't have the best CAD skills in the world but enough for me to get my idea out. The CAD software that I have used is Onshape which is great because it had many tools for me to get my idea out. This is my first version of the CAD and is something I definitely need to work on. I did not finish!
2/20/2026 - Devoloped V2 CAD
I realized that my other CAD just wasn't what I wanted so I decided to restart. Now I had some better CAD skills, so I felt ready to recreate my version of the robot. Now I was able to add slots for the wheels a place for the balls to go and better bucket and the arms for the balls to get directed into
. This still needed some more work, but I was proud with what I had done.
2/23/2026 - Ball Detection Code
Next, I wanted to touch upon the basics of my ball detection code. I am not too experienced to code and python so making something like this took lots of time, patience, and understanding. I decided to code the program in python(mostly because my mom said to). After many videos, help from my mom, and a bit of AI I was able to get a basic version of my ball detection. The code is able to detect the ball from its color, and whether it is a circle or not. At the start it was mostly going off color which was inconsistent because it was picking up other objects with a similar color such as pencils. I also added some code to show the (x,y) coordinates above the ball.