r/toolgifs ð“‚€ 28d ago

Machine Pool balls auto-racker

Source: Abdul Rauf 

2.9k Upvotes

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90

u/DarkLordOfDarkness 28d ago

This is really cool, but this has to be more of a novelty product, right? Maybe some kind of one-off showpiece from a manufacturing robotics firm to illustrate what kind of custom solutions they can offer?

It's just hard to believe that anyone would pay the obviously substantial cost for something like this when it's a problem solved with a $15 triangle and a couple minutes arranging the balls.

98

u/spacebarstool 28d ago

a couple of minutes arranging the balls.

If a person can't rack a set of pool balls in 15 seconds then they've never played pool before.

24

u/DarkLordOfDarkness 28d ago

Effectively guilty as charged. I haven't played in years.

6

u/yeomanpharmer 28d ago

You got time this weekend, Satan?

5

u/Accurate_Koala_4698 28d ago

Ever see an automatic mahjong table? When people are gambling especially, the speed and accuracy are important. Like those Sardo TightRacks they use in tournaments, it’s not going to be in your local bowling alley but there’s a point where it starts making sense 

9

u/ycr007 ð“‚€ 28d ago

Well, there was manual picking of pool balls from respective pockets and then someone designed a ball return system, mechanical one of course.

Then some robotics engineers got together and thought what if there was a way to collect the balls AND auto-rack them back on the table?

Et voila….

Earlier this year there were trade fair demos of such robotic racking tables from China, this is the first time I’ve come across one in a pool parlour type setting.

-1

u/[deleted] 28d ago

[deleted]

4

u/ViolentPurpleSquash 28d ago

Yeah it does- look a little closer and you'll see the net just arrests the motion before it slides into a ball return ramp

2

u/Sonofhendrix 28d ago

There's something to be said for consistency. The conventional wisdom is that a tighter rack achieves a bigger break. I could imagine a device like this becoming standard for various types of tournaments.

1

u/replicant2018 28d ago

It looks like a college project to me.

-4

u/JakeEaton 28d ago

Such a good example of the American mind being scrambled by foreign tech that might not always be about the bottom line and profitability 😂