A Funnel Taped to a Robot Arm for a Juggling Experiment
Juggling Robot Arm
A team taped a funnel to the end of a robot arm in an attempt to make it juggle. Their plan was to throw a ball upward and catch it in the same spot, alternating between two balls. Rather than use a camera to track the balls, they planned to repeat the same throw and catch motion.
Mandy Meindersma and two teammates worked on the idea at a September 2026 hackathon. They report that it was much harder than expected.
At the end of a precision robot arm is a funnel held on with tape. That's an unexpectedly charming meeting of industrial robotics and kitchen hardware.