How to trap a ball. A learning curve.

Here we go. It's 2013, I want to build a thing, that catches small balls.

Here are some of the cornerstones on my way to the SHORTGOLF target as it stands today.

First draft, but the sail-idea in this configuration soon prooved to be a problem...too many good shots didn't stay inside. A fine start, but way to unreliable.

I started experimenting with a membrane witch allowed the ball to enter easily. Once inside, the ball was trapped.

But how could I add more functionality?

I added a ramp...Because rolling balls will be important. The membrane was modified to be seperate panels. They were easily bendable to the inside, but couldn't be bent outwards.

This was sturdy. Maybe a little bit too sturdy, but it worked. The main problem was the useless top part.

The next step featured an additional outer ring, witch prevented the ball from rolling away if it didn't make it all the way up the ramp. It was a fix for a problem I had with the current solution for my ball.

The polished version was a prof of concept. The process up until now was developed in my last semester as a product designer. My bachelor thesis if you will.

What followed was the transformation form a system to a product. I wanted to make it affordable and even more reliable. It just had to be done.