3 hours? How about 25 minutes. Meet Freddy, the robot painting Byron’s athletic fields

BYRON, Ill. (WTVO) — Long before a touchdown pass or a pitcher’s perfect curveball, the athletic fields at the Joe Parks Athletic Complex must be ready to go.

Athletic director Jeff Milburn said he had a high-tech helper for the last two years: Freddy, the turf tank, a line-marking, number-painting automated robot.

“For keeping these grounds up. We got a lot of land here in Byron, a lot of ball fields and a lot of grass area,” Milburn said. “Basically, when our guys let this thing go, they set it up and let it go paint it the fields and they can be doing something else while it’s painting the fields.”

The turf tank, named after a retired custodian, is about the size of a medium-sized suitcase, and is satellite guided by the global positioning system (GPS).

“It is going to cut down labor and most importantly, time,” said grounds manager Nick Sapoznik.

The turf tank can paint the lines on a soccer field in about 25 minutes, much faster than the 3 hours it would take a 3 person human team.

Milburn says the machine has been a game changer, and has been in use now for two full seasons.

However, it’s not inexpensive, but Milburn said it is worth every penny.

“It’s about $10,000 a year take keep the license. It does more than just our fields. It does the logos and that sort of thing, too,” he said.

Other northern Illinois schools, including Rockford, Belvidere, and South Beloit, also use the automated paint robot for their athletic fields.