Patent ID: 7980967

Claim:
A programmable directional ball throwing apparatus comprising: a frame connected to a hollow rotatable support mast, wherein the hollow rotatable support mast comprises a fixed position hollow mast segment, a rotatable support mast segment in communication with the fixed position hollow mast segment; a ball passage passing through the fixed position hollow mast segment to the rotatable support mast segment to connect an inlet aperture and an outlet aperture that can rotate without inhibiting ball transport through the passage; a rotation mechanism comprising a rotation motor operably connected to rotate the hollow support mast, wherein the fixed position hollow support mast is stationary and the rotatable hollow support mast segment is rotated by the rotation motor; a ball ejection mechanism connected pivotably about the outlet aperture, wherein a ball fed into the inlet aperture tranverses the ball passage to the outlet aperture and into the ball ejection mechanism; a pivot motor connected operably to the ball ejection mechanism and the hollow support mast; and a computer readable medium embodying a computer program for controlling a three dimensional flight and trajectory parameters of the ball comprising: a first code segment for receiving one or more parameters identifying a flight and a trajectory of the ball in three dimensions for one or more player positions; a rotation motor code segment to control the rotation motor to rotate the rotatable hollow support mast segment; a pivot motor code segment to control the pivot motor to pivot the ball ejection mechanism; and a second code segment for controlling one or more motors to eject the ball in accordance with the received one or more parameters identifying the flight and the trajectory of the ball in three dimensions.