h a l f b a k e r yThis ain't rocket surgery.
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The ball is actually a very small quad-copter with a
spherical
cage around it that lets you throw it like a ball.
On board sensors and calculators project the trajectory
from
the force and angle of your throw and then fly that path
at a much slower speed than it would have
traveled at
if it were a regular ball.
Additional settings could be "Zig-Zag", "Corkscrew",
"Frame-
By-Frame" (where it flies a few feet, stops, flies a few
feet,
stops...)
You could also make it go faster.
You could achieve this...
http://www.uta.edu/...lection/101018.html
This Idea reminds me of a story I read lots of years ago. I'm fairly sure the "double curve" in the story is not actually possible --but with ball-shaped slow drone, you could do it easily. [Vernon, Jul 25 2015]
And if you doubt the technical ability of these things to do the job...
https://www.youtube...watch?v=3CR5y8qZf0Y
...don't. [doctorremulac3, Jul 25 2015]
And by the way, all quad copters need to be in spherical cages anyway.
https://www.youtube...watch?v=5B3X6EvZ2XM
Simply to increase their fly-ability in the real world. [doctorremulac3, Jul 25 2015]
With a geodesic cage (I think that's what you'd call it) these things can go anywhere.
https://www.youtube...watch?v=DUGEjQdoylY
[doctorremulac3, Jul 25 2015]
Bullet Time
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet_time
[theircompetitor, Jul 25 2015]
[link]
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Initial velocity may be a problem with a kid with a strong arm. The size of the ball would dedicate the power of the quad-copter. Nice though. |
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Yea, the first thing the ball would do would put all 4
motors into full braking mode to slow the thing down. |
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Ya know, another way to do this might be just to have air
resistance handle the slow down task. Have a kid's
balloon with a steerable ducted fan running down the
center with a little CPU on board that does the
navigation. As anybody who's thrown a balloon knows it
basically stops in mid air as soon as it leaves your hand. |
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I like the quadcopter solution better though. There are
very few
challenges in life that can't be solved by computer
controlled micro aircraft. |
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Totally. By the way, please see the link showing how clever
these things are getting. |
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