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Aug 08, 2023

Meet Monte, the robot that paints yard lines and San Diego State logos on the Snapdragon Stadium turf

Monte moved back and forth across the Snapdragon Stadium turf on Thursday, lining the football field for Saturday’s season opener between San Diego State and Ohio. The process hummed along at a steady

Monte moved back and forth across the Snapdragon Stadium turf on Thursday, lining the football field for Saturday’s season opener between San Diego State and Ohio.

The process hummed along at a steady pace.

Monte never took a water break, worked right through lunch hour and was unaffected by the sun beating down overhead.

That’s because Monte is a robot, an autonomous field painter that can be operated by one person holding an iPad downloaded with software specific to the task.

Turf Tank, the company that makes the machine, says the robot is seven times faster than human painters, saves 50 percent on paint and draws perfect lines.

Mike Kerns, director of field and grounds for Snapdragon Stadium, is sold. So much so, in fact, that Kerns was awaiting delivery Thursday on a second $12,000 unit.

One robot, good. Two robots, better.

Monte meet Zuma.

“It saves us time and it saves us manpower in what we’re tying to do,” Kerns said. “We’re trying to get everything done in shorter windows.”

It’s 48 hours before kickoff for the ⁦@AztecFB⁩ team’s 2023 season opener against Ohio. Busy at work on the ⁦@SnapdragonStdm⁩ turf today was Monte, the robot that Snapdragon director of field/grounds Mike Kerns and his crew use to paint lines and logos for events. pic.twitter.com/q2Nq6gAdyG

Kerns said before the robots, painting a football field could take three days for a crew of 8-10 workers.

Day 1 would be stencils and logo outlines; Day 2 would involve placing string lines for hashmarks and yard lines; Day 3 would be color and final touches.

“If we really wanted to push it, with two robots, we could have the whole football field painted in a day,” Kerns said.

Saturday’s Ohio-SDSU game is event No. 45 since the stadium opened 51 weeks ago, Kern said.

The number of events will continue to grow, especially when San Diego’s new MLS team debuts in 2025.

“When you’re a multi-use venue, we’re trying to increase events in the right amount, but we’re also trying to reserve manpower the best we can,” Kern said. “That’s ideally what we’re trying to do here today with the Turf Tank. With the logos, with the lines, it just saves us manpower. ...

“We want to be prepared for any window that may come. We don’t want the playing surface to not be turned around because of X, Y or Z.”

On Thursday, Monte was tasked with drawing the white lines and hash marks as well as logo outlines.

On Friday, color will be applied. Red will be used for “San Diego State” in the north end zone and “Aztecs” in the south end zone.

The SD spear logo also will be completed as well as Mountain West and Snapdragon field logos.

“When we have two robots, we can segment the field,” Kerns said. “We can send one to go left, one to go right and that allows us to do the hash marks and cuts our time down.”

The field numbers are still applied by workers using stencils.

“We paint the numbers by hand,” Kerns said. “It’s a custom Aztec (font). We could probably have the robot do it. But I prefer the crispness of the stencils we use.”

Visitors who happen by the field during game weeks are intrigued when they see Monte going about his business. Kerns said he gets a kick out of “everybody’s amazement by it.”

“For me, it’s another tool in the toolbox,” he said. “The novelty of it has worn off. It’s our go-to and everyday it works for us.”

The robot is allowed to venture outside every couple of weeks to line the 1,500 grass parking spaces located at Snapdragon’s premium parking lots located west of the stadium.

“It allows us to not send the manpower out there to string lines and paint,” Kerns said. “We can just send one guy out there with the robot.”

Kerns, who earned a degree in 2009 from Rutgers in Turf and Turfgrass Management, traces his fondness for grass to his youth in Philadelphia. His twin brother is in the same field.

Kerns’ experience includes field supervision in golf course and professional baseball and soccer, most recently in the Northwest as head groundskeeper at Tacoma’s Cheney Stadium.

He never imagined such technology when he got into the business two decades ago.

What’s next, a robot lawnmower?

“They already have those,” Kerns said. “It’s always in the back of my mind, especially for the parking lots outside.”

So what’s stopping him?

“I enjoy mowing,” Kerns said. “It’s therapeutic.”