Divot Fixing Robot for Golf Courses

[Cat5Can]

Hi all,

I was wondering if I could get some feedback on a project I am working on.

I am exploring the possibility of building a Robot that self drives around the golf course locating and filling in divots with divot mix (Sand, seed, soil, etc)

Here a link to the divot recognition algorithm we have built so far:

Is divot fixing a big pain point for Greens Keepers/ Golf Courses? What do you think about this idea?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated

 

[BubbaP]

Ooh build a pitchmark repairer also.

I expect cost may be the main concern for most clubs.

 

[Cat5Can]

Ooh build a pitchmark repairer also.

I expect cost may be the main concern for most clubs.

Hi There,

Thanks for replying.

Do you think golf courses spend much manually filling divots as it is? Any idea what costs are associated?

Cheers

 

[clubchamp98]

Hi all,

I was wondering if I could get some feedback on a project I am working on.

I am exploring the possibility of building a Robot that self drives around the golf course locating and filling in divots with divot mix (Sand, seed, soil, etc)

Here a link to the divot recognition algorithm we have built so far: https://www.youtube.com/watch

Is divot fixing a big pain point for Greens Keepers/ Golf Courses? What do you think about this idea?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated


View attachment 31950

In theory it’s a fantastic idea.
The tech already exists I would imagine.
How would it identify how much sand mix to put in each divot.?
How wide is it ? As a golf course is a really big area so a lot of passes up and down.
Would it identify a golfer and stop and be quiet?
Would it be able to identify between greens,tees fairways or need an electronic route map?
What fuel would it use as petrol engine / environmentally friendly etc?
we have Artisans who do this and sometimes the scouts.
Great idea and good luck.
Think cost would be the main worry as carrying a lot of sand it would need to be very robust.
Robbo Greenkeeper it’s the future” maybe”

 

[CliveW]

How many would you need for a 300 acre Club?

 

[jim8flog]

Replied to in your duplicate thread.

 

[jim8flog]

Hi There,

Thanks for replying.

Do you think golf courses spend much manually filling divots as it is? Any idea what costs are associated?

Cheers

WE have divot bags on the tees and members are expected to carry a bag - use it to fill in the divot holes on the hole they are playing and leave the empty bag on the next tee. We also have members 'divoting' evenings where each group is allocated to one hole and fills in the divots holes on that hole only.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

A waste of time and effort. Although the idea in theory is good no club is going to buy a remote machine to do what members should be doing at various times of year.

 

[sunshine]

A waste of time and effort. Although the idea in theory is good no club is going to buy a remote machine to do what members should be doing at various times of year.

No, members don't do this (well some do but many don't).

Robo-greenkeeper sounds like a great idea. I think we are a few years away from getting there, as the playing surfaces on a golf course have too many variables to make this an efficient process at present.

Good luck Cat5Can!

 

[robinthehood]

I love technology and can see how this would be developed. However at a couple of places I've played we do a few nights of members doing divots and pitch marks with a curry and beer for our troubles. Probably cheaper than a robot .

 

[Fabia999]

I love the idea. My first thought is how long would a club need to own the robot for it to be worth their initial investment?

 

[Robster59]

I think the idea has potential (I can't see the video as the link doesn't work).
However, my main concern is that we don't ant it to make golfers lazy. Divots should be repaired straight away. For some, if they know a club has one of these they may think "sod it" and leave it for the machine to do in the evening or early morning. That's no help for the golfers that are following them.
Practicality wise, cost, reliability and effectiveness are the big things in this. Most UK clubs don't have money to burn so it has to be cost effective for them.

 

[Cat5Can]

Ooh build a pitchmark repairer also.

I expect cost may be the main concern for most clubs.

Ooh build a pitchmark repairer also.

I expect cost may be the main concern for most clubs.

In theory it’s a fantastic idea.
The tech already exists I would imagine.
How would it identify how much sand mix to put in each divot.?
How wide is it ? As a golf course is a really big area so a lot of passes up and down.
Would it identify a golfer and stop and be quiet?
Would it be able to identify between greens,tees fairways or need an electronic route map?
What fuel would it use as petrol engine / environmentally friendly etc?
we have Artisans who do this and sometimes the scouts.
Great idea and good luck.
Think cost would be the main worry as carrying a lot of sand it would need to be very robust.
Robbo Greenkeeper it’s the future” maybe”

Hi there, I really appreciate your detailed reply.

The video link should be working now

I would put the sand mix into the divot based on the size of the divot. Have a look at the video the bigger the red box around the divot the more sand that will be released.

It wouldn't be that wide maybe like 2 for at most.

I would have sensors built in that if it got too close to a person, animal or object it would stop immediately.

Although the robot its self will be very quiet while operating (because of its electric motor) I was thinking about having it operate at night time to it cause the least disruption. What do you think about this?

Eventually, it would be able to identify the difference between greens, tees, fairways etc using onboard cameras and GPS. But initially, to test the robot I would probably have to manually set its boundaries on the course.

Yes fully electric and environmentally friendly. It would run on around 100€ of electricity a year.

I really appreciate your time, I agree costs are my biggest concern. I think we can make it robust enough but let's see.

Let me know what you think about my replies to your questions.

Cheers

 

[CliveW]

My thoughts are related to size. To replace divots on a single hole of our course takes at least two large buckets of sand/seed mix. To do a full 18 hole course you would require a large machine if not many smaller machines. How often do you envisage the use of the machine? Weekly, fortnightly or more per hole? With wide fairways a machine would have to identify divots over an area of about 6,000 sq yds per hole which is 0.8 Acre. That's a lot of grass to survey!

 

[Slab]

I guess par 3’s don’t come into it, and for par 4’s its primarily just the landing zone for the tee shot, same for par 5 but includes the lay-up zone but less emphasis/time on where 2nd shot is hit from given the longer/fairway clubs being used. Overall it all greatly reduces the area where the majority of divots will be

edit: There’s a course here that doesn’t let players refill divots and I wondered how staff found the time to get round each day, but realised when you take out par 3’s and focus on the landing zones it massively reduces the task

 

[Cat5Can]

How many would you need for a 300 acre Club?

I'd be hoping for just one per course? Considering it could work during the night

 

[Cat5Can]

WE have divot bags on the tees and members are expected to carry a bag - use it to fill in the divot holes on the hole they are playing and leave the empty bag on the next tee. We also have members 'divoting' evenings where each group is allocated to one hole and fills in the divots holes on that hole only.

Okay, that's good to know...

 

[robinthehood]

I'd be hoping for just one per course? Considering it could work during the night

What if it gets stuck in a ditch or something, would it dial home and ask for help? I't seems to me that although you could build this machine, the ongoing maintenance and support would make it overly expensive. I'd guess it would also discourage members from replacing divots as they'll think the robot will do it.

 

[Cat5Can]

A waste of time and effort. Although the idea in theory is good no club is going to buy a remote machine to do what members should be doing at various times of year.

Yes that is a fair enough point and I thought that myself, until I spoke to some clubs and they were spending a fairly significant amount of money to pay people to fill divots during the playing season.

 

[Cat5Can]

No, members don't do this (well some do but many don't).

Robo-greenkeeper sounds like a great idea. I think we are a few years away from getting there, as the playing surfaces on a golf course have too many variables to make this an efficient process at present.

Good luck Cat5Can!

Hi there,

Thanks for your response.

Why do you think its a good idea id love to hear?

Surprisingly the technology is very nearly ready for application on golf courses as it is a fairly controlled environment for a robot compared to a street with cars etc.

Anything else I should note?