Ball-E: Automated Robotic Lacrosse Goalie Trainer

The Bi-Axial Autonomous Lacrosse Learning Evaluator (Ball-E) is a plug-and-play solution designed to shoot lacrosse balls at 30 to 100 mph every 5 to 10 seconds anywhere from 5-20 yards on 9 locations on the net.Why did this project come to fruition? Training a lacrosse team is resource intensive, and a lacrosse goalie needs a lot of one-on-one practice. The problem is that coaches are often unavailable, especially for youth teams, and many coaches are parent volunteers who are not well-versed in the sport. This not only leaves lack of proper training, but also a void for getting proper feedback. Riley Lawrence, a middle-school lacrosse player from Brighton Youth Lacrosse, came up with an idea for this robotic lacrosse goalie trainer that would not require anyone else for running a goalie training session. Moreover, Ball-E can record sessions and offload them to a USB stick so that you can show the video later for feedback.In terms of actual practice, you can create goalie profiles and customize drills and save all this information into Ball-E. This allows for an automated system for one-on-one goalie training with Ball-E without a human being around. If you create a goalie profile, you can track your progress with what drills you have done.It is important to note that goal shots can come from anywhere. That is why Ball-E has a sophisticated pitch and yaw system which allows shots from various angles from the net, so that the aspiring goalie can be prepared for a shot from anywhere.