tennirobo robot

This is my fourth robot.  I had a Newgy 2040, then PP H2W pro, then Bty Amicus Pro.  I sold them all because training a lot with them made me worse.  It killed my timing and ball feeling, because the ball was always the same.  

But with Covid I needed a way to exercise, so I started searching for a new and improved robot. Tennirobo is half the price of my PP and Bty robots, and it is controlled via app.  It looked really too good to be true, but after using it almost every day for 2.5 months, I have not been disappointed at all. 

The best thing about the tennirobo for me is the two random modes.  Auto random just puts a box around the location you chose and sends the ball anywhere in that box.  Pro random lets you draw a shape and the robot head fires from anywhere in the shape you drew.  That means you can select any range of locations.  Pro random also lets you set a range form the ball speed, spin, and interval between balls.  That also means the robot misses sometimes, or gets nets and edges, depending on how the various settings come up.  But so does a real training partner. 

That last one is what makes it not seem as robotic as my other robots.  If you set the interval to .9 - 1.3 seconds, and a variable speed, you get balls that land short or long, and you have to wait for the timing of the ball.  No more swinging like a metronome and always making perfect contact. 

The tennirobo can also serve pretty realistically.  And I like that you can see the next ball because the throw wheels are outside the ball hopper.  It's not at all like reading an opponent's body, but no robot is.  At least there is something useful to watch, and if you are playing random, to listen for the speed of the motors too.  So you don't completely lose those habits. 

It is the invention of one guy, Sergey, from Ukraine.  I needed a little tech support and he was super available and helpful. Much more so than Bty NA when I needed support on my Amicus.  

Tennirobo is designed to be mounted on a tripod.  There is no catch-net, which I know is a deal-breaker for some people.  Personally I can't get through the full 180 ball capacity on any exercise with footwork, and picking up is a nice break for me.  SO no catch-net makes no difference to me. I do like that the ball can come from anywhere on or behind the table, high, or low. The other three robots I had were all designed to play from the same spot.  

I bought my TenniRobo about two years ago. Long story short: I would only recommend it to people who have a permanent training setup.

Pros:

• Cheap (appr. 700 EUR for the large version including shipment as far as I can remember)
• Portable
• Lightweight
• Customizable features
• Can fit up to 180 38/40 mm balls (large version)
• Can be placed anywhere (with a tripod)
• Three-wheel motor head (can produce any spin variation)
• Android & iOS
• Fast support (Skype, WhatsApp, etc.) on problems or questions by Sergey

Cons:

If you're on a budget, having a permanent setup at your place and willing to spend quite some time to get to know the App, TenniRobo is right for you. If you're expecting a Butterfly Amicus Prime on a budget, I must disappoint you. If I had to chose again, I'd spend more money on a Butterfly robot.

In Butterfly Amicus Prime, with a strong rotation change, the time between shots reaches 4 seconds. Motors have a lot of inertia.