I have seen an automated ball tosser for sale. This is a fantastic idea, but there are a few problems that need adjustment.
1. It is geared for outside use. It throws too far, too hard for indoor use.2. It only takes tennis balls. I find that my smaller dog destroys tennis balls, and they get disgusting rather quickly. We use a smaller squeaky ball that is perfect for our dog.3. It doesn't have a timer/clock so that you can set it and forget it. It needs to be able to be set up and have an allowable time window during which the dog can use it.
My small shih-tzu loves to play fetch, but we humans are frequently too busy (or just not the right time for us) when he wants to play. I'd love to teach him how to put his squeaky ball into the hopper and press a button to catapult it into the next room.
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I'm not so sure your dog would want to play if he/she isn't interacting with you. I'll play tennis or basketball against someone, but by myself, I'm bored in five minutes.
Hrench may have a point, but then again some dogs might love this. However, if you put a timer on it, the dog might get really upset when it suddenly stops working for no apparent reason. He also might not know when it turns on again. I suppose you could put a speaker on it and have it play a recording that calls the dog when it's time to play. It could even say "fetch" when it throws it and "good boy!" when he puts it in the hopper.
I'm sure I could design a fairly simple device to do this. I don't know if it would sell well enough to make it worth my effort though. It might be simple, but it may not be all that cheap to build.
The question is: are humans or dogs better at detecting artificial intelligence? My guess would be: it depends.