Human-Powered Tennis Ball Launcher: Green Genius or Simply Added Work?
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY 
on 06.19.08
OK, fine. So I fully admit that this one is a bit lightweight in comparison to issues which I would normally write about. It’s certainly not as complex as T. Boone’s shenanigans.
Nonetheless, being an avid tennis player anything that could green-up my favorite sport attracts my interest. And since I consider human-powered devices to very nearly be alternative energy devices in an age when sweeping a few leaves from the sidewalk seems to require a gas-powered leaf blower in my neighborhood, I feel justified.
This bit of Rube Goldbergery is created by Daniel Bauen and is “Both cleanly powered and built from 2 recycled bicycles, scrap steel and wood, leaking 5 gallon water jug and a lacrosse stick, our pedal powered tennis ball launcher is a unique innovate or die entry. It allows players varying in skill levels to practice to be better at both tennis and cycling.”
Based on the video above it certainly seems to work as designed, and since every other tennis ball machine runs off a battery—which most likely ends up being charged from non-renewable sources—this is a comparatively green option. However, I have to ask: Since you have to have another person down the other end of the court to pedal the device, why not just have them feed the balls out of hand using a racquet? I always thought that the whole point of these things is so that you can practice by yourself.
Wouldn't a more practical solution be to lobby your local council (or take up a collection from local players) to install a small solar panel at the courts to charge the battery on your existing ball machine? Kudos to Daniel on ingenuity though.
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I like it, but I don't have a bunch of cheep slave labor at my beck and call. :(
The Aquaduct (in the options at the end of the video) looks innovative as well.
I'm all for human powered machines, but if you're going to have someone on the other end of the court launching tennis balls for another person to practice their swing, why not have that person just throw the balls?
I applaud their ingenuity, but I question the need for the device.
can't the point just be that it was fun to design and build?
The sucker on the bike would be a great stationary target for the guy returning the balls.
That's what I was thinking, why would one person ride the bike when he could just play? And two, man I hope that guy doesn't get hit in the face with a return serve.
What fun, what joy to having been able to invent this!
This invention just has taken back the social connotation in tennis, even if this kind of excersising should be solo- Now you have someone to aim at and at the same time you can gab with someone without having to be competitive with that person at the other side of that net. And at the same time that person can do a good workout on a bicycle.
This is a machine that just invites us to try to invent more solutions to problems that are already solved in other ways- This is just a wonderful case of thinking out of the box. If you can invent stuff like this, you are bound to do some other useful inventions too. And otherwise people will be inspired to invent useful stuff on their own.
This looks pretty neat, but I still prefer my own standard tennis ball machine. Call me old fashioned, but I like to control my groudstrokes, my lobs, etc.