THE CHALLENGE
Having fields in excellent condition is a requirement for an NCAA Division I team. However, maintaining the entire area at the UVA’s sports facilities became a difficult and time-consuming process for the grounds crew, especially in an era when labor scarcity is a serious problem in the turf industry. And this started to take a toll on the quality of the fields.
THE SOLUTION
UVA decided to upgrade their athletics program with the Turf Tank line marking robot. Not only does it relieves the time pressure on the grounds crew, and helps them keep up with the sporting events, but it also ensures the fields are in impeccable conditions.
The University of Virginia is an iconic institution for public higher education, consistently ranked among the nation’s best. As a renowned research university, they are constantly striving to be at the forefront of innovation, not only from an academic perspective but in all its manifestations.
So in 2020, they became one of the first in the NCAA Division I to adopt robotic line marking technology for their sports fields and brought to the team the Turf Tank “UVAn Gogh” robot artist.
When the labor shortage impacts the quality of the fields
Jesse Pritchard is the turf manager at the University of Virginia and together with his staff of four, they maintain 15 acres of natural grass and eight acres of synthetic turf, for a wide range of sports: football, men’s and women’s soccer, baseball, softball, track and field, men’s and women’s lacrosse.
For a top university, the expectations are high. From coaches to players, and fans, everybody expects the fields to be in pristine shape. But mainting this huge surface at a high level of excellence is no easy job when done manually. It is a demanding and time-consuming process. And the labor shortage in turf management is making matters worse.
“For all the fields that we maintain, we’re understaffed. Knowing the personnel issues that are out there, trying to find qualified employees that will actually take the job, Turf Tank really helps out.”
– Jesse Pritchard, Turf Manager
“We affectionately call him UVAn Gogh, UVA Van Gogh because he’s our artist to help us get everything done.”
“Before, it could take a crew of four guys, six to eight hours to get these fields painted, pulling strings pulling out stencils. Early in the season when the Bermuda grass is growing extremely fast, we’re painting the fields twice a week.”
Unfortunately, this time pressure means the team is forced to cut corners sometimes. And this takes a toll on the quality of the fields.
“We really didn’t have the time to use three to four employees to come out and pull strings all the time. So some corners would be skipped. Some guys were painting some things without pulling strings. It really wasn’t the product that we were looking for. Now, myself or one of my employees can come down here and these two practice football fields can be painted in six hours. Done completely. Perfectly straight lines.”
“It’s a huge help for us having the Turf Tank. It really helps keep the quality high and allows us to get the fields painted and meet the coaches’ expectations”
Creating pristine fields without the hassle
What used to take a team of four people and six hours to paint and lots of manual work, it’s now been reduced to just one person operating the Turf Tank. The robot can paint a complete football field in under three hours, all by itself. While the robot takes care of the fields, the rest of the crew is free to focus their attention on other tasks around the site and ensure the facility reaches that desired standard.
“Turf Tank turns it into a one-man job”
“The great thing about Turf Tank is the program is set and it’s going to be in the same exact spot every time. With manually pulling strings and pushing lines those lines can creep on you just a little bit. Turf tank comes out, paints the same field same line on top of the other lines.”
“I think there’s a place for a Turf Tank on every facility that’s got three to four fields or more. It just greatly diminishes the labor. Anybody can use it. There’s a slight learning curve, but not much of one.”
“If you use an iPhone, you can pretty much use the Turf Tank and your fields will be there with crisp, clean lines, every single time.”
