Spin Inducing Arm Pitching Machine

A ball-throwing machine of the type having at least one arm for propelling a ball toward a batter to simulate a pitch, said machine including at least one of the following:

• a) a ball holding means at the end of the arm;
• b) a ball spinning means;
• and
• c) a programmable controller for individually controlling:
• i) means for causing each arm to rotate to a predetermined speed at ball release;
• ii) means for causing the pitched ball to move to a predetermined horizontal location;
• iii) means for causing the pitched ball to move a predetermined vertical location;
• iv) means for causing the pitched ball to spin in a predetermined direction;
• v) means for causing the pitched ball to spin at a predetermined rate;
• and
• d) a human-machine interface adapted to re-program said programmable controller, said machine being able to interchangeably deliver pitches of different types to the
• i) same or
• ii) different locations with no manual adjustment required.

A software program for a pitching machine including an arm mechanism, utilizing the iterative steps of

• a) inputs from a
• i) keypad or
• ii) touch screen interface,
• b) processing those inputs in the application of arithmetic formulae to calculated desired signal values,
• c) generating output signals to at least one mechanism on an arm pitching machine to adjust at least one of the pitching machine parameters from the list including
• i) aimpoint,
• ii) arm speed,
• iii) ball speed,
• iv) ball spin speed,
• v) ball spin direction, and
• vi) ball release point, wherein said inputs consisting of at least one from the list comprising:
• (1) visual locations on a grid representation of the area above a batter's box homeplate;
• (2) pitch type;
• (3) ball spin amount;
• (4) ball spin direction;
• (5) ball pitch velocity;
• (6) target area;
• (7) drill type desired;
• (8) target type or
• (9) player to be simulated.

A method to causing an arm-type pitching machine to deliver a pitched ball to a designated target location with a variety of pitch type characteristics comprising:

• a) inputting desired pitch parameters into a human-machine-interface connected to a microprocessor,
• b) said microprocessor calculating the required aimpoint of the machine based on machine-readable arithmetic formulas,
• c) converting that aimpoint into signals,
• d) transmitting those signals to the electromechanical systems on the machine to adjust any one of:
• (i) arm rotational velocity,
• (ii) ball speed, spin direction,
• (iii) spin intensity and
• (iv) machine pitch and yaw, and
• e) placing a ball into the delivery system.