When Ishaan Mehra '27 looked at the school's squash ball machine, he noticed a few problems. It emitted fumes, was difficult to reload, and required a complete disassembly for modifications. So, he decided to build a new one from scratch. The result is the SRB-1, a robot driven by a computer vision pipeline that tracks a fast-moving ball in real time, accounting for motion blur, player obstruction, and variable lighting, predicts its trajectory, and returns shots in under a tenth of a second. A binocular system of high-framerate cameras lets players review their own technique, strategy, and movement in detail. Ishaan and his team unveiled a semi-functional prototype during school announcements on April 22. “I've always loved building things,” Ishaan says, “but when I'm able to make my builds useful, I feel the most proud. It's not just something cool, but something beneficial.”
The team's longer vision reaches well beyond Concord Academy's courts. Squashbusters is a nonprofit that brings squash to players who otherwise couldn't access it — coaching, equipment, and court time make the sport expensive to start and hard to sustain. It doesn’t just feed balls; it rallies with players, tracks their footwork, assesses shot choices, and gives coaching-level feedback without needing a coach present. For a Squashbusters player without regular access to 1:1 time with a coach, this feedback after each session could significantly impact their progress. That way, any player can step onto a court alone and leave having improved. “People worry that AI is going to replace human occupations in many industries, but that's not what I'm trying to build,” Ishaan says. “The SRB-1 is meant to be on court for hours when a coach can't be. A human will always have a leg-up on machines in certain aspects, but our robot's ability to analyze a player on a biomechanical level is unmatched anywhere else.”
Ishaan and his team recognize that the project is complicated and will need a lot of testing and refining. However, he remains very optimistic. The team is already working with Squashbusters to deploy the SRB-1. The aim is not just to test the robot, but to provide real, unprecedented coaching tools to players who have rarely had access to any. If successful, the SRB-1 will not just be a better ball machine; it will serve as a specialized coaching assistant that never leaves the court.