The very
first SALTEX Innovation Award celebrated the best in brand new grounds care
technology when the show took place at the NEC, Birmingham on 1 and 2 November
2017.
Making its
debut, the Innovation Award attracted a number of high-quality entries from
various exhibitors from across the globe. There were 24 entries in total
spanning a wide variety of products, services and equipment.
The entries
were judged by an independent panel of industry experts who based their
decisions on a number of factors including what the entry offers the industry
and how it makes life easier for the person using it.
The
standard was incredibly high, resulting in a tie for first place.
Backed by
unanimous support by all judges, during the first day of the exhibition, Rigby
Taylor's Intelligent One autonomous robotic line marker and Fleet Line Markers’
MAQA line marking machine were announced as joint winners of the SALTEX
Innovation Award 2017.
The
Intelligent One (iO) is said to be the world’s first fully autonomous robotic
line marker. It can mark out a standard sized football pitch in 35 minutes,
using just 3.3 litres of ready to use Impact XP paint. The iO eliminates the
task of stringing out for the first markings and operates hands-free. Once the
pitch template has been entered into the supplied tablet, the iO is placed at
the corner of the pitch and will mark out all the outside and inside straight
lines, the 'D', centre circle, corner angles and penalty spot without any
direct operator involvement.
The MAQA
line marking machine uses GNSS technology to reduce the time it takes to mark
by a massive 75 per cent. Initial marking that might have taken two men up to
four hours can now be completed by one person in 20 minutes.
The
standard of all Innovation Award entries were of such high calibre that the
judges chose to award second and third place awards as well.
Second
place went to Oregon’s Gator Speedload, which judges said was a quick and
simple device which negated the need to dismantle the head each time to
re-load/wrap new strimmer cord. Third place went to the Etesia Hydro 80 MKHP4
E-Connect, due to its ability to set up multiple users and record data –
allowing organisations or clubs to monitor the amount of use and user’s
ability.
