TennisBot v1

TennisBot v1 is a tennis playing robot that can serve balls at a fixed location. It has tilt, top/back spin, as well as ball frequency control. It is capable of shooting the ball at 40 m/s^ (or 89.5 mph) and spin of 8490 rpm^.

^Theoretical highest speed, based on the selected motor and power output

Features

• 40 m/s top ball speed
• 8490 max ball RPM
• battery powered

• 2 BLDC motors powered by 2 lightweight ESCs
• 1670W of raw motor power
• 2:1 gear ratio
• 90mm wheels

• RPi 4 running ROS melodic
• ESP32 for hardware control
• Communicate using over serial via USB using rosserial

• Dual 14bit magnetic encoders (for RPM tracking)

• Belt driven drive
• 2:1 reduction ratio
• Idler for better stability at high RPM

Design

See Design.

V1 Limitations

This version of TennisBot is not capable of playing a full tennis match just yet, since it only includes the shooter component. However, the shooter component allows us to practice returns, and some tennis drills.