Thirty-two teams. Sixty-four games. One trophy.
It all kicks off, quite literally, this June.
Not merely a thrilling global display of elite athletic prowess, the world-famous football tournament is a carefully orchestrated exercise in preparation and management. From travel to turnstiles, from broadcast to blades of grass, every facet of this sporting spectacular requires precision planning.
On the ball with modern technology
Football is a sport that’s developing at an astonishing rate. On and off the pitch the appliance of science continues to have an effect on the beautiful game. Video-assisted refereeing defers to goal line technology, vanishing spray simplifies the job of marking where the wall must stand, even the stadiums themselves are employing modern invention to keep paying fans happy.
But consider the pitch itself. All that playing field requires constant attention and strict maintenance. One company that knows more about that than most is Yamabiko Europe SA: the world leader in robotic mowers.
Who is Yamabiko Europe?
Yamabiko Europe know its way around a pitch. In fact, the company’s world-famous robotic lawn mowers are a grass-trimming revelation to teams and stadiums across the world. The flagship product, the Bigmow, brings a big chunk of autonomous maintenance heft to the soccer pitch – and it was designed using SOLIDWORKS.
A few small words on Bigmow
Utilising SOLIDWORKS, Yamabiko Europe designed an invention that’s made light work of large turfs. Delivering professional lawn quality with a reduction in waste and human resources, the pitch-tending ‘bot has made its mark with customers impressed by the machine’s ability to work in any weather. The Bigmow provides pitches the world over with a smooth, uniform trim, allowing the players to concentrate on the ball rather than pitch inconsistencies.
Designed with our 3D CAD software, the team were able to make adjustments on the fly during the planning stage. SOLIDWORKS recreates the exact behaviour of engineering materials, allowing stress-testing and accurate rendering without the expense of a physical prototype build. This very process led directly to Bigmow’s lightweight engine, which makes transport and manoeuvrability of the machine a doddle.
A pristine pitch good enough to frame. It’s almost a shame the players’ studs have to tear up the ground in search of victory.
They think it’s all over – it’s not
Yet it’s not just the playing field where technology is progressing the world’s best-loved sport. The very seats that the fans occupy have been getting a modern upgrade courtesy of VDL Seating Systems, a global company using SOLIDWORKS to engineer comfortable, competitively-priced seating for stadiums across the world.
Even the smallest elements of the game are evolving – and while the goalposts may not be moving, they’re certainly becoming more lightweight, sturdy and energy-efficient to produce thanks to the work of Janssen-Fritsen. That’s another SOLIDWORKS customer, using our software to manufacture goals for schools and teams across Europe. In fact providing football with safer, cheaper and more economical equipment is at the forefront of all research – with a heavy nod to greater accuracy too.
Extra time…
There’s everything to play for as technology and research tackle the challenges posed by football’s ever-increasing popularity. It’s time for technology to lace up its boots and get its game on.