NIXUS Partners with Xometry to Launch a Smart, Sustainable Tennis and Padel Ball Charging Canister

High-End Engineering Addressing Global Sports Waste

NIXUS sets itself apart by turning high-level engineering into sustainable consumer solutions. The sports tech company was founded by alumni from the Delft University of Technology, who brought together the rigorous technical problem-solving skills they honed while developing advanced systems for Delft Hyperloop. Looking for a massive real-world challenge to tackle next, they focused their engineering expertise on an overlooked environmental issue in racket sports: the rapid pressure loss and premature discarding of tennis and padel balls.

The scope of this waste is staggering. At major tournaments like the US Open, around 95,000 balls are consumed per event. In the Netherlands alone, players discard roughly 5.5 million tennis balls annually. Because more than 98% of these balls are manufactured in Southeast Asia and over 85% are thrown away solely due to natural deflation rather than physical damage, the global transport and waste footprint is immense. NIXUS engineered a high-tech solution to reverse this cycle entirely.

“Our first goal was humble: build just one unit for ourselves,” says Joep Raithel, Co-Founder of NIXUS. “Two and a half years later, we are producing a 25-unit validation run with Xometry ahead of our global Kickstarter campaign.“

A Circular Vision for Racket Sports

What began as an ambitious R&D project to construct a single functional unit has rapidly scaled over the last two and a half years into a commercial venture. Today, the six-person company continues to build on its shared foundation from the Delft University of Technology. While the original founders spearhead research and development, newer team members bring targeted expertise in marketing, growth, and industrial design—creating the multidisciplinary perspective required to bring a sophisticated hardware product to market.

To turn their vision into reality, the company developed the world’s first smart charger for tennis and padel balls. The device functions as an intelligent, pressurised canister that restores the internal pressure of the balls, significantly extending their playing lifespan without altering the athlete’s routine on the court. 

Athlete opening the NIXUS canister on-court

Intelligent Engineering and High-Accuracy Design

Automated Pressure Restoration Technology

The core innovation of NIXUS lies in its ability to seamlessly fit into an athlete’s routine while delivering advanced pneumatic performance. Tennis and padel balls lose up to 30% of their internal pressure within just two weeks as air slowly permeates through their rubber cores. By precisely increasing the pressure around the balls inside the sealed canister, NIXUS reverses this diffusion process.

Unlike standard pressurised containers on the market that compress blindly, NIXUS utilises a patent-pending technology that measures the internal pressure state of each ball with 98% accuracy. The user simply places the balls into the canister after a match, selects the sport type via the interface, and the device calculates and executes the optimal pneumatic charging cycle automatically.

Advanced Mechanical and Interface Architecture

Developing NIXUS required comprehensive in-house engineering, spanning custom electronic PCBs to a high-performance mechanical pressure seal. While the structural body is optimised for long-term injection moulding, the company needed a specialised low-volume manufacturing method for their pre-series runs that could guarantee strict airtightness, structural durability, and a premium consumer finish.

To elevate the user experience, NIXUS integrated a custom matrix display consisting of 534 LEDs beneath a scratch-resistant surface. Rather than relying on a generic LCD screen, this clean, minimalist interface remains completely invisible when inactive, maintaining the sleek, professional aesthetic of the product body.

Scaling via SLS 3D Printing and Advanced Post-Processing

Overcoming Technical Barriers in Pre-Series Production

While the final commercial body of the NIXUS canister is designed for long-term injection moulding, the company required a manufacturing method for their initial pre-series production runs that could deliver airtight performance without the immense upfront cost of hard tooling. Standard desktop FDM (Fused Deposition Modelling) 3D printing proved useful for early prototyping, but it lacked the strict tolerances, structural durability, and sealing performance required by a pressurised system.

To bridge this gap and produce their first batch of market-ready units, NIXUS turned to Xometry’s industrial Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) 3D printing. Xometry manufactured all of the functional plastic components for the device—ranging from the main ball canister structural shell to the high-tolerance pressure connectors mounted directly onto the internal electronic PCBs.

Material Selection and Critical Surface Finishing

The production components were printed using PA12 (Nylon 12), chosen specifically for its high mechanical strength, dimensional stability, and excellent compatibility with advanced post-processing techniques. Because raw SLS parts are inherently porous, achieving a perfect pneumatic seal required a precise finishing strategy.

NIXUS utilised Xometry’s vapour polishing service to chemically smooth the surface roughness of the components. This process was highly critical to the device’s functionality, as it sealed the microscopic pores of the PA12 material to guarantee long-term airtightness. Following vapour polishing, the parts underwent industrial spray painting using a premium RAL9001 finish, transforming the components from rough prototypes into a refined, high-end consumer product.

Accelerating Development via Digital Procurement

The integration of the Xometry Instant Quoting Engine played a key role in accelerating the company’s development timeline. By uploading CAD models directly to the platform, the engineering team could instantaneously evaluate lead times, compare material costs, and order design iterations on demand. This digital workflow allowed NIXUS to rapidly validate part fits, adjust tolerances between iterations, and confidently transition into their current pre-series production run.

“The Xometry platform made our development process straightforward,” says Joep Raithel, Co-Founder of NIXUS. “The instant quoting engine allowed us to quickly compare manufacturing options and make faster decisions, which directly improved our overall iteration speed throughout development.”

Future Plans and Global Market Launch

Validation Strategy and the Kickstarter Campaign

NIXUS is currently executing a pilot programme utilising the 25 validation units manufactured by Xometry. This critical real-world testing stage allows the team to identify and resolve any operational nuances before initiating large-scale mass production.

Following the completion of this validation phase, NIXUS will launch its official commercial market entry this August via a global Kickstarter campaign. To maximise momentum ahead of the launch, the company is actively building an exclusive waitlist on its digital platform, offering early adopters a specialised launch discount to help bring NIXUS straight onto courts worldwide.

Transitioning to Scalable Manufacturing

As demand increases post-launch, the company’s production requirements will naturally transition from pre-series validation batches to high-volume manufacturing. Because the product architecture was strategically designed from the outset with injection moulding in mind, NIXUS is perfectly positioned to seamlessly scale its production infrastructure. This industrial transition will also unlock deeper customisation capabilities, allowing the company to introduce diverse surface textures and unique colour configurations to the market.

NIXUS intends to maintain its strong operational partnership with Xometry for all upcoming research and development initiatives, including the prototyping and validation of their next pipeline products.

NIXUS canister on-court with spraying clay dust