Chandler school: Robot lines athletic fields, more

By Jason W. Brooks
Mail | X: @JasonWBrooks2

Jim Shewbridge knows Eubanks Stadium’s grass endures a lot.

“July is really the only month of the year this field’s not in constant use,” the Seton Catholic athletics director said. “So it’s great to be able to paint the field whenever we want or need to.”

Last summer, the Chandler school started using a small machine from a company called TinyMobileRobots to paint horizontal surfaces. Using water-based paint and a satellite position system, the robot was used during the Sentinels’ fall football season to paint Eubanks Stadium, creating perfect lines and saving on the cost of a crew.

“I still paint the middle myself,” Shewbridge said, describing large, multi-color fill-in areas as one of the robot’s few limitations. “But for the most part, after a few minutes of it connecting to the satellites and loading it with (water-based) paint,” it’s ‘set it and forget it.’”

A machine labeled TinyMobileRobot paints the east soccer sideline yellow at Seton Catholic’s Eubanks Stadium. Athletics director Jim Shewbridge said the robot allows staff or contractors to move on to other work while it lines the field before a game or tournament.

Independent Newsmedia/Jason W. Brooks

Shewbridge set the robot up on a January weekday afternoon the day before a Sentinels varsity soccer girls/boys doubleheader. Within minutes, the robot had created a perfect east touchline in yellow.

Within a few more minutes, the robot had created the penalty box, penalty “arc,” goal box, corners and the southern goal line of Eubanks Stadium’s field.

A few minutes after that, the robot had created half of the western touch line and the center line — all without Shewbridge having to do anything.

As with any new technology, there are initial limitations. In addition to a complex, multicolor midfield or outfield logo being a challenge, the robot sometimes tracks its own tires through the wet paint it just laid down, while turning or repositioning.

The machine running low on paint is still a learning curve for staff, too. Shewbridge said there seems to be a difference between the faster “sloppy practice field” setting, which creates sometimes-crooked lines using less paint, while the slower “game field” setting is far more precise but uses more paint.

“Its 2.5-gallon tank will do a whole soccer field on the ‘fast’ setting, but only about half the field on ‘slow’ game settings,” he said.

Add in football hashmarks or other paint-consuming intricacies, and the paint use goes up. But the machine still pays for itself, Shewbridge said.

But even drying doesn’t seem to be a big problem, especially in Arizona, where the hot, usually low-humidity weather leads to water-based paint drying on surfaces quickly.

Shewbridge didn’t disclose the actual cost of the robot Seton Catholic purchased, but he said the machines retail for between $40,000 and $45,000 now. He said Sentinels boosters didn’t need to fundraise for the purchase and that it fit into an annual budget.

The athletics director said it costs far less in paint than it does to have a crew come out and line a field once. That’s key for a field used by several Seton Catholic school programs, plus 7-on-7 football in June and outside users, such as a Corona del Sol High School lacrosse team.

Shewbridge said he’s not sure how many Valley schools or organizations are using robots to line athletic fields. He believes there’s one private school in the East Valley that use at least one robot; the town of Gilbert’s parks are lined by a pair of robots.

The city of Buckeye has a robot named “Chalk Norris” for fields, which has its own social media campaign and ongoing series of Chuck Norris jokes.

Shewbridge said the robot’s also been programmed to redraw parking lots at Seton Catholic.

“It’s really a useful tool,” he said.

We invite our readers to submit their civil comments on this topic. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.   Email Jason W. Brooks at jbrooks@iniusa.org

Jason W. Brooks
News Editor | Chandler Independent

Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.

Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.

Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.

Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.

Community: He supports animal shelters.