Sportbot on a clay court in RTV Slovenija’s 2025 sports report. RTV Slovenija / Sport · AI-enhanced.
A moving ball machine is easier to understand when you see it on a tennis court. RTV Slovenija’s 2025 sports report takes Sportbot onto clay, where founder Toni Ulčar explains the feeding sequences, the app and the coaching idea behind the machine.
The report moves between the machine, the phone used to control it and Toni’s explanation of how he wanted independent practice to feel closer to a tennis exchange.
Why the machine moves
Toni’s starting point was his own wish to keep playing during the COVID period. He was a tennis player and mechanical-engineering student who wanted to explore what a moving feeder could add to a practice session.
In the report, he describes movement as a way to bring more variation into the positions from which balls arrive. The movement is part of the training situation he wanted to create.
The Sportbot founder story gives more background on how that question became a hardware project.
Building a sequence, rather than choosing one shot
RTV Slovenija / Sport · AI-enhanced.
During the demonstration, Toni talks through ball length, height and tempo. His examples include long and short balls, high and low balls, and combinations involving slice and spin.
The point of his explanation is the sequence. A practice session can ask a player to deal with several kinds of delivery, with machine movement adding another part to that variation.
The report also shows the phone interface, including the launch countdown. For current information about machine operation and drill control, visit the Sportbot app page. The film gives a view of the system as it was demonstrated in the 2025 report.
Giving the coach a position beside the player
RTV Slovenija / Sport · AI-enhanced.
One of the most practical parts of Toni’s explanation concerns coaching. He describes preparing the training session, then standing near the player to observe and give instructions while the machine feeds the balls.
You can see another on-court setting in the UTR Ljubljana story with Fred Gil, which follows Sportbot at the tournament.
For the current machine, explore Sportbot for tennis. The tennis and padel story explains the company’s broader cross-sport direction.
Watch the RTV report
Watch the original Sportbot report on RTV 365. The item is titled Toni Ulčar ustvaril teniški top, kot ga še ni bilo, runs 3 minutes 9 seconds and is listed in the archive on 25 May 2025.
Continue with more demonstrations and player stories in Sportbot News.
