  We study from a statistical physics perspective the dynamics of a bouncing
ball maintained in a chaotic regime thanks to collisions with a plate
experiencing an aperiodic vibration. We analyze in details the energy exchanges
between the bead and the vibrating plate, and show that the coupling between
the bead and the plate can be modeled in terms of both a dissipative process
and an injection mechanism by an energy reservoir, where the dynamics of the
reservoir obeys only a 'blurred' version of detailed balance. An analysis of
the injection statistics in terms of fluctuation relation is also provided.
