Line marking

A base for expansion

Countrywide Grounds Maintenance Ltd Wiltshire has used the Turf Tank One to expand their line marking services into new sports whilst lightening the load on their staff.

Adrian Sargent, Regional Manager at Countrywide Grounds Maintenance Ltd Wiltshire, operates with a team of 14 covering most aspects of grounds maintenance, with one person taking responsibility for line marking. In recent times, customers’ requirements have become more technical with bespoke athletics markings and requests for other sports such as lacrosse and baseball.

Adrian turned to autonomous line marking technology to facilitate these requests, focusing on a robot that uses a base station. The Turf Tank One combines the best of all the recent advancements by using battery power and a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver coupled with a real-time kinetic base station, which significantly increases the accuracy.

Base stations are commonly used in agriculture and surveying due to their precision. Other methods, such as GNSS with GPS used in smartphones, have accuracy that makes them suitable for applications like Google Maps, but they lack the accuracy needed for initial marking or overmarking.

An RTK base station improves the accuracy of the robot (rover) by providing it with real-time correction data accurate to +/- 1 centimetre. This means a GPS receiver capable of RTK takes in the normal signals from the GNSS along with a correction stream to achieve 1cm positional accuracy.

Knowing that the Turf Tank One could deliver this quality was integral to Adrian’s decision.

“We’ve had various requests for bespoke line marking and with one person taking responsibility for all the marking, we wanted to lighten his load but not sacrifice on the quality. So, for us, that was the primary thing, and before we looked at what the market had to offer, I’d already decided I wanted a robot that came with a base station,” said Adrian.

“For me, it’s essential if you want to achieve the accuracy and consistency we need, and there were no other manufacturers out there that could match it. So, we tested the Turf Tank, and the performance was excellent. The speed was what we were told, pitches were marked out quickly, and the reduction of paint usage was also in line with what we expected.

“Currently, we’re using it to mark two schools a day, and that’s the initial setups for a 300m six-lane oval and rounders pitches, followed by a 400m six-lane oval and rounders, but we are looking to increase this to three in the next season.

“Come September, we will be marking, football, rugby, hockey, and schools are also looking at more unusual sports and because of the versatility of the robot, we can cater for that.” n www.turftank.com

No strings attached

GPS line marking has made a major advance with the introduction of the TinyLineMarker Pro, Rigby Taylor’s most technologically advanced line marking robot.

The TinyLineMarker is 100% autonomous and uses the latest GPS technology to mark the pitches and ensure the consistent accuracy of the lines. The TLM when arriving on site can start marking new pitches right away, both standard and customised and when partnered with Rigby Taylor’s awarding winning Impact ready to use paint, will produces the brightest, whitest lines.

The robot needs no extra equipment and the included control tablet connects, through satellite directly to the machine, allowing grounds managers to position, edit and paint pitches instantly from the tablet.

A big game-changer for sports clubs and stadia grounds managers is the time saving achieved as just one operator can undertake the initial markings of a pitch just as quickly as re-markings. Lightweight and easy to transport, the TLM is particularly beneficial for clubs with a high number of sports pitches, including training grounds and academies, also contractors marking local authority playing fields and schools that have multiple sports played on their surfaces throughout the year.

TLM can mark almost any sports surface including football (all pitch sizes), rugby (both codes), multi-lane running tracks, lacrosse, tennis and American football. All templates are simply downloaded and stored on the supplied tablet. Any dimension or regulation changes by international/national/regional sporting can be updated as required

Once the pitch markings have been placed on the map and stored on the tablet, they are saved for future use and always ready for remarking; even if the lines disappear from the grass if a pitch has not been used for any length of time.

All the lines on the pitch are marked, including for football, all perimeter lines, penalty boxes, the ‘D’, centre circle, corner angles and even the penalty spot… all with a click on the tablet. Even pitches with fixed posts and sockets can be marked.

“The TLM will generate rewards in every aspect of line marking by enabling the company to save time on the initial marking of pitches and athletic sports’ lines – as an example by taking just 1.5 hours to mark an athletic track instead of three quarters of a day!” said Matt O’Conner, Managing Director of John O’Conner Ltd

The robot weighs just 35 kg and can be transported by one person. Manual and automatic driving mode gives the user full control when using the robot. The impact paint used for the line markings is supplied in 10 litre drums and a flow tube is simply plugged in and marking can begin; no mixing, no measuring and no paint contact with the operator. The TLM setup and subsequent cleaning are completed with step-by-step, on-tablet instructions that make working with the robot easy and simple to operate. n www.rigbytaylor.com

Less labour, less time and no waste for university sports park

Les Gibbs, Grounds Manager at the University of South Wales Sports Park, has invested in a new Kombi Ranger line marker after a successful trial, on account of its new innovative features.

“It’s simple, it’s quick to use, and there are two marked benefits with the new model,” says Les, who has worked at the University complex for over 40 years. “One of the best things about it is that our groundsmen can walk at different speeds and still get the same even application and this is down to the variable speed pressure control.”

The Ranger can also be used with Fleet’s range of concentrated paints and 10 litre drums.

“We have plenty of footfall from University students and international professional teams and we therefore need line markings which are quick to apply and paint that’s durable,” said Les. “The Fleet paint can last over two weeks on turf without over marking.”

Iain McGuffie, owner of Fleet Line Markers, the largest producer of line-marking paint in the UK, said the new Kombi Ranger was engineered with the user in mind, designed from customer feedback.

“It has a 24-volt battery, which is easily removed for charging on a docking station, meaning there is no need to take the machine to the charge point, just the battery! It has twice the power, you can charge it anywhere and the battery is also guaranteed for three years.

“We offer a three-year guarantee and will replace any parts in the rare case that this is needed,” said Iain.

“The machine is suitable for all surfaces and can do both centre and side marking.”

The Kombi Ranger has adjustable handlebar height, handlebar ends and has a stainless-steel chassis and handlebars, which are built to last.

The adjustable flow control panel, integral water tank for cleaning and selfmixing facility are features which make this model quick and simple to use.

“The machine has many unique added features which set it apart from the competition. These include six covered bearings, to prevent any paint ingress seizing up the line forming discs. The Kombi Ranger also has low rolling resistant, puncture-proof tyres,” adds Iain.

Optional extras include a chemical spray boom, athletics boom and jockey wheel. n www.fleetlinemarkers.co.uk

Innovative technology wows crowds at cricket festival

North-West autonomous technology innovators, GroundWOW, have been showcasing their world first capability at some high-profile events this summer as sport continues to recover from the pandemic.

Among them, July’s Festival of Cricket in support of the Professional Cricketers’ Trust at the Wormsley cricket ground in Buckinghamshire. The Festival is a one-off exhibition match between the PCA England Legends and a Sir Paul Getty XI.

“When the Trust approached us, we were thrilled to help,” commented GroundWOW Chief Commercial Officer, David Pritchard.

A little bit of history was made too as the Wormsley event marked the first time that logos were printed at a cricket match by the world’s first (and only) autonomous full colour ground printer. “That was a big part of the excitement. We have operated in football, racing and other sectors and so bringing the technology to cricket felt like a really strong fit with a sport that inspired much of our original thinking” continued David.

Kathryn Ford, of the Professional Cricketers’ Trust, said it was the first time working with GroundWOW.

“They dropped onto our radar earlier this year via one of their stakeholders, former England Cricket Captain Michael Vaughan. After a couple of conversations, we had a plan for them to bring their print capability to Wormsley. For such a high-profile event, we need partners that deliver what they promise and that is precisely what GroundWOW did.”

GroundWOW operate an internal test track at their North-West HQ for product demonstrations and anybody interested in the technology can make contact via email to david@groundwow.com.

Launched in October 2019, GroundWOW® was developed with a mission to make printing on ground as easy as printing on paper. GroundWOW SPECIAL FX can print any logo, any size, on any surface. Deployable in under 10 mins, end-to-end Cloud platform combines to create images as accurate as a blade of grass. n www.GroundWOW.com