Meet Hazy

Hazy is a line marking robot that can mark an entire sports field in just 27 minutes.

Battery powered, iPad controlled and with navigation by GPS, Hazy has been introduced by Green by Nature, who took over the Green Spaces contract for Nelson City Council in early July.

“When we opened the contract for tender we really wanted to see new initiatives that would include cost and work efficiencies, sustainability improvements, quality improvements and solutions to do more for less without compromising quality. Hazy is a technology that ticks these boxes” says Andrew White, Group Manager Community Services.

“The tiny mobile robot is used in other New Zealand cities so we already knew of its benefits, most important of which, is the ability to free up staff time for other tasks,” says Hamish Blomfield, Team Leader, Green by Nature.

A standard field would take three men, three hours to mark.

“Line marking a field is labour-intensive and accuracy is key, even with the best laid plans, humans can make mistakes, especially when painting a straight line by hand.”

Mark East from Perennial Sport & Turf explains how the robot operates.

“The robot comes with an iPad which is loaded with 50+ field designs which can be scaled and modified, rather than needing to measure angles and distances by hand at the start of each season. We’re working off a GPS/RTK network that gives us accuracy of about 10ml meaning the lines are straight all the time, every time.”

Some Council playing fields are remarked weekly, others fortnightly. The robot supports the Green by Nature team by freeing them up to focus on other important tasks like turf repairs, goal set ups and general maintenance.

Hazy will be used on Nelson playing fields for all sports, including football, rugby, league, and cricket.

As for the name , Hazy is a nod to one of the former field line markers.