BallBOPPer 2026 Launch Head Reveal

The actual mechanism of the Launch Head is similar to the 2023 version, but a tremendous amount of work has gone into it over the years and none of that work has been revealed until now.

The Launch Head uses four brushless high-power motors, mounted in a rectangle, as was proposed in the 2012 patent, each with their own Electronic Speed Controller or ESC.

Spin is generated in any direction by varying the speed of the motors in unison - which was also the method proposed in the original patent.

The motors themselves are clamp mounted using mounting rings attached to the launch plate. This allows the motors to extend into the wheels to take up less space.

What is not visible in the picture above is the layer of foam rubber between the mounting ring and each motor. This small addition does an impressive job of dampening the vibration of each wheel.

Surprisingly, the wheels themselves are lightweight and made of Polycarbonate.

And they are not round.

This is a bit unusual from an engineering standpoint. Ball launching systems typically use a motor and two larger wheels that have significant mass. The wheels are spun up to a speed close to the exact speed as the intended velocity of the ball and it is then the mass of the wheels that propels the ball.

The BallBOPPer's launch wheels, on the other hand, spin at much higher speeds and only slow down to the intended velocity at the brief moment each ball is between them.

This launch head design, with lightweight wheels and high rpm motors, allows us to spin up the wheels instantly and then shut them down immediately after each ball is launched. Most of the time the motors are not running at all - which is ideal for a battery-operated device.

The design of launch wheels that are lightweight and not round was arrived at through extensive experimentation.

Round wheels of a similar size impart less momentum to the ball due to the short time of contact.

By creating wheels with a concave curve cut in a pattern around the circumference of each wheel results in the four wheels wrapping completely around the ball as it passes between them. All four working together like this ends up launching each ball with considerably greater force.

You might think this would require additional coordination between the wheels so that all four arrive at the wheel in the same orientation. But in practice this has proven unnecessary. The wheels align around the ball at the moment the ball first enters without any coordination.

The primary driver behind this unusual design is to achieve the low weight and compact size that is needed for a highly maneuverable launch head, one that can be elevated above the court all the up to serving height.

Ultimately, a lightweight and compact launch head is the only way a system like this will ever be able to simulate True Game Play.

A couple of additional notes:

— The motor mounts, like the launch wheels, are completely made from 3D printed polycarbonate. All of the engineered parts of the BallBOPPer system are either CNC'd aircraft aluminum, or 3D printed polycarbonate.

— The aluminum brackets shown on either side of the launch head are for hanging the catcher when in use, making it easy to put the catcher on and off as needed.