Automatic ball machine apparatus utilizing player identification and player tracking

A ball machine comprising:

• an imaging system attached to the ball machine and configured to capture image data of a playing surface of a court;
• a processor configured to
• analyze a first frame of the image data using a neural network to detect a plurality of persons in the first frame,
• determine, using coordinate mapping, a coordinate position on the playing surface of each of the plurality of detected persons in the first frame,
• extract, from the first frame, features of each of the plurality of detected persons in the first frame,
• generate, using the extracted features of each of the plurality of detected persons in the first frame, a first set of feature vectors corresponding to the plurality of detected persons in the first frame, each of the first set of feature vectors being different from each other,
• associate a first feature vector, included in the first set of feature vectors, to the coordinate position on the playing surface of a first detected person included in the plurality of detected persons in the first frame to generate a first unique identifier,
• associate a second feature vector, included in the first set of feature vectors, to the coordinate position on the playing surface of a second detected person included in the plurality of detected persons in the first frame to generate a second unique identifier, and
• control settings of the ball machine to provide first settings based on the first unique identifier and to provide second settings based on second unique identifier, the second settings being different from the first settings;
• and
• a ball launching system configured to launch balls based on the first settings and the second settings.