A robotic vehicle is provided with vertical ball cannon and a ball deflector. The ball deflector is mounted over the vertical ball cannon on a vertical linear slide. The deflector redirects a ball shot from the cannon toward a desired target, such as a cylindrical goal. The vehicle further includes a rotating goal-grabber for anchoring a goal adjacent to the vehicle and underneath the output of the deflector. A pair of counter-rotating helical screws capture a ball from the ground and raise it into the ball cannon. The cannon launches the ball toward the deflector, which redirects the ball's upward vertical motion away from the cannon into a downward vertical motion toward the desired target.