Utformning av en Bollutslungare : Produktutvecklingsprojekt av en bollutslungare för hundsporten Flyball

Sammanfattning: This report is a product development project of a ball launcher as requested by Sörmons HundklubbLKk. The project har been carried out as a thesis for the Bachelor of Science for the Innovation anddesign engineer program at Karlstad University.The client wished to begin training in a dog sport called Flyball. This sport can be likened to a relayrace where two teams of dogs race against each other. One dog per team runs along a path, leapingover obstacles, up to a ball launcher. When the dog jumps at the ball launcher to stop its momentumand turn back, a ball, launched about two feet, is to be caught by the dog. The dog then returns thesame way along the track as it came to switch with the next dog on the team. The last dog who finishfirst wins for their team.Due to large costs when importing a ball launcher, and the product not being available in Sweden,the client wanted a Swedish version developed. The goal was to minimize the price with the criterionto maximize longevity.The work of the project has followed the product development process as studied at KarlstadUniversity, with great influence by idea generation techniques, analog and digital sketching, 3Dmodeling and mechanical drawing techniques. Construction of the prototype has been carried out inthe workshop at Karlstad University with an evolutionistic design approach. A combination of lateralthinking for creativity and vertical thinking for logic and confirmation was used throughout theproject.The result of the project was a prototype that could be tested in a real environment at the dog cluband was confirmed to function as desired. Due to the availability of material at the workshop,construction of the ball launcher was possible at no cost to the client. This was a request, althoughnot a requirement for the project.The client also wanted to keep the prototype which was constructed to use within the club fortraining purposes. Therefore the ball launcher was completed to a finished prototype after projectclosure.