Oh, that is cute. And obviously the dogs know what happens next because they dash away before the ball is actually launched.
You know how it takes two points to define a line and several points to define a trend. Not with my dog. I made the mistake of tossing her some of my cereal as I was getting it ready. Once was all it took for her to catch on that "dad getting cereal ready" equals "some for me."
Further proof that engineers are good for something besides being held up as a bad example. Tremendous labor-saving device to keep the kids and the dogs occupied during those evening hours which are better spent working on new algorithms for landing lunar modules on the rings of Jupiter, or designing up-hill gravity flow sewage systems.
All kidding aside, whoever built that ball launcher deserves a Nobel Prize for ingenuity. Although it has to be plugged into a wall socket, it's a perpetual motion machine, using no visible duct tape.
At the risk of sounding engineer-ish, the only improvement I might suggest is perhaps a battery to power it, and a treadmill in the hallway for the dog to keep the battery charged, and an Oreo cookie/dog-biscuit dispenser triggered by the ball return. Then, by Jeebus, you got something. You would never have to see your kid or your dog again.
My avatar agrees, pretty cool.:-)
