This robotic basketball hoop guarantees a basket every time — here's how it works

Mary MeisenzahlMay 20, 2020, 04:22 IST

Robotic basketball hoop.Shane Wighton

YouTuber Shane Wighton made a video showing off a robotic basketball hoop that he made.
He wrote programs allowing the hoop to track the ball and move the backboard to get the ball in the basket.
Except for occasional glitches, Wighton's basketball hoop is the secret to getting basket on every shot.

Not even professional basketball players make every shot they take, but they could with this gadget. Youtuber Shane Wighton posted a video on his channel, Stuff Made Here, showing how his robotic basketball hoop design works and demonstrating some shots.

In a 16-minute video, Wighton gets into the technical details of how he made the robotic basketball hoop work and how he fixed bugs. Here are some of the highlights, and a video of how it all works.

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Wighton previously designed a basketball hoop with a backboard that guided basketballs into the net.

Shane Wighton

It worked, but there were limits. It couldn't handle line drives, for example.

Shane Wighton

For version two, he used computer vision to create a robotic hoop that can move in real time to correct shots and get them in the basket.

Shane Wighton

The hoop has three motors, each controlling an arm that moves the backboard in as wide a range as possible.

Shane Wighton

The backboard moves along a 3D printed joint.

Shane Wighton

Using facial recognition, the hoop can recognize who is shooting.

Shane Wighton

Using that information, it can keep track of a specific person's shots and let them know if they are accurate and consistent.

Shane Wighton

Using a Microsoft Kinect to determine how far away a person is, the hoop was also able to identify a basketball and determine its trajectory, which then determined how the hoop would move.

Shane Wighton

Using a Microsoft Kinect to determine how far away a person is, the hoop was also able to identify a basketball and determine its trajectory, which then determined how the hoop would move.

It had to do all this in the 600 milliseconds between when the ball was thrown and when it hits the hoop.

Shane Wighton

Here is the hoop in action.

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This robotic basketball hoop guarantees a basket every time — here's how it works

Wighton previously designed a basketball hoop with a backboard that guided basketballs into the net.

It worked, but there were limits. It couldn't handle line drives, for example.

For version two, he used computer vision to create a robotic hoop that can move in real time to correct shots and get them in the basket.

The hoop has three motors, each controlling an arm that moves the backboard in as wide a range as possible.

The backboard moves along a 3D printed joint.

Using facial recognition, the hoop can recognize who is shooting.

Using that information, it can keep track of a specific person's shots and let them know if they are accurate and consistent.

Using a Microsoft Kinect to determine how far away a person is, the hoop was also able to identify a basketball and determine its trajectory, which then determined how the hoop would move.

It had to do all this in the 600 milliseconds between when the ball was thrown and when it hits the hoop.

Here is the hoop in action.