Tennibot founder and engineer Haitham Eletrabi loves tennis.   But he doesn’t love the chore of gathering all those tennis balls, after a game or practice session.

Enter expertise and robotic innovation.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Haitham has created Tennibot–the world’s first robotic tennis ball collector!  Through a “smart” technology, it locates the balls independently–gathering up to seventy at a time.

Tennibot also has other ways to help players improve their game.   Its app keeps track of the number of times a player practices, and the number of  balls hit.  It also sends you reminders, to go out to the ball machine or practice your serve!

At CES® 2017’s Eureka Park™ Marketplace, Tennibot was drawing considerable interest.  Haitham, who is a postdoctoral engineering researcher at Auburn University, says he plans to ship a limited number of them later this year.

Haitham talked about his background, shared the story of Tennibot and offered some resources for fellow makers and entrepreneurs, based on his experiences.  (And he shared the story of his team’s win at Auburn University’s “Tiger Cage Competition” in 2015!)

On this edition of Over Coffee®, you’ll hear:

• How Haitham first fell in love with the game of tennis;

• How Tennibot, resulted from his status as an avid tennis player;

• The steps Haitham and his team took, in making their vision a reality;

• How Tennibot works;

• The lessons Haitham and his team learned, during their makers’ journey;

• One of the main problems they had to work through, during the creation process, to create an efficient robot;

• A great customer-service guideline for makers taking pre-orders for a new product;

• When the robot is expected to be available, later this year, and its  price;

• The resources Haitham, as a maker, has found most helpful;

• Haitham’s advice to fellow entrepreneurs, on pitching their products successfully to potential investors;

• Haitham’s favorite memories of the “Tiger Cage Competition”, in which Tennibot was one of the winners;

• His guidelines on spending prize money, such as his team received in the competition, wisely while developing a product.