Sights worth a second look
For the past two years, McDaniel College Athletics has been able to celebrate an MVR: Most Valuable Robot.
Facing the national labor shortage and global supply chain issues at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the college invested in a Turf Tank line-painting robot in fall 2021 to help the grounds crew on campus.
In addition to keeping the Hill lush, green, and awash with flowers in award-winning fashion, the McDaniel College grounds crew is also charged with mowing and painting the lines on the natural grass athletic fields on campus. While that may sound simple, it’s no small feat.
With the acquisition of Carl — affectionately named after a commercial for a certain reptile-mascotted insurance company — the time and money savings have already paid off. With estimated time savings of 40-60 hours per week and reducing paint usage by more than 50%, Carl is no doubt the MVR of the Hill’s grounds crew.
And it’s not just the Green Terror student-athletes who benefit. The technology allows the robot to lay multiple colors, so summer camps hosted on the Hill can, for example, overlay a lacrosse field on a soccer field to accommodate both groups.