Robot makes easy work of marking out archery lines

It is the first time the TinyLineMarker Pro X has been used outside of schools after being bought in February for its efficiency rate, which is seven times quicker than humans and can mark out over 200 customisable pitch templates.

It spent about an hour marking the archery guidelines at Port Soif on Friday 7 July, a task which normally takes at least a working day to achieve by hand.

‘Normally we have 16 lanes but for the Games we need 18 so I’m very relieved to see the machine take the slack,’ said leader of the field party Ian Le Page, who usually marks the lanes for Guernsey archery competitions.

‘My legs would have been even shorter if I had to do it this time.’

The robot is controlled by an iPad, on which templates can be placed and scaled, using satellite maps connected through an island-wide GPS signal.

The archery field’s template had to be custom-designed by Ian Torode from States Works and covers distances up to 90 metres along which 32 targets will be placed.

Archery tournament organiser Steve Yates said it had taken a burden off everyone’s shoulders.

‘The marking of the field is the biggest thing, so it’s really useful to be able to get it over with so quickly and easily, especially with the training day on Sunday,’ he said.

14 out of the 24 member islands are competing in the 18 archery events over the week, with the Faroe Islands being tipped as one of the teams to beat.

Traditional recurve bows alongside pulley system compound bows will be used, men shooting at targets up to 90 metres away and women 70.

Mr Yates said that he was hoping for the best regarding the weather but that tougher conditions would not halt Guernsey’s attempt at bettering its 13 medal haul at Gotland 2017, the last time archery was in the Island Games.

‘We’re used to a breeze at Port Soif but we’d prefer calm conditions with no rain and sunny skies,’ he said.