Miguel A Chavez

US Patent:

20170090470, Mar 30, 2017

Filed:

Sep 28, 2015

Appl. No.:

14/867798

Inventors:

- Raleigh NC, US
Brian Alexander Nelson - Cary NC, US
Sean Michael McDonald - Cary NC, US
Jordan Dominic Salamido - Cary NC, US
Sean Michael Greene - Raleigh NC, US
Christopher John Young - Durham NC, US
Oliver Dacey McCann - Cary NC, US
Kirsten Joanna Keleher - Raleigh NC, US
Sunkeun Lee - Raleigh NC, US
Miguel Douglas Chavez - Raleigh NC, US
Evan Patrick Elezaj - Apex NC, US
Reade Lawrence McBride - Raleigh NC, US
Christopher Uwe Beckmann - Durham NC, US

International Classification:

G05D 1/00
F16C 1/12
F41F 1/00
B25J 5/00
B60B 15/22
B62D 55/20
F16H 19/04
G05D 1/02

Abstract:

A robotic vehicle is provided with vertical ball cannon and a ball deflector. The ball deflector is mounted over the vertical ball cannon on a vertical linear slide. The deflector redirects a ball shot from the cannon toward a desired target, such as a cylindrical goal. The vehicle further includes a rotating goal-grabber for anchoring a goal adjacent to the vehicle and underneath the output of the deflector. A pair of counter-rotating helical screws capture a ball from the ground and raise it into the ball cannon. The cannon launches the ball toward the deflector, which redirects the ball's upward vertical motion away from the cannon into a downward vertical motion toward the desired target.