Just recently, the Sports Turf Managers Association announced its "Innovative Award" winner. According to STMA's press release, the program honors commercial company members whose product, service, equipment, or technology "substantially enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of the sports turf manager and/or makes the playing surfaces safer and/or more playable for athletes."

The Innovative Awards Task Group chooses a winner based on various factors such as protecting the environment, saving time and resources, filling a need, and making a task easier.

The 2019 winner is ECHO Robotics for their Autonomous Mower TM-2000, which STMA describes as a self-driving, self-charging and self-sufficient product with a 2:1 mowing to recharging ratio.

"At ECHO, we pride ourselves on creating revolutionary high-performance products," says Joe Fahey, vice president of ECHO Robotics. "Thank you to the Sports Turf Managers Association for this prestigious award, we're honored to play a part in enhancing the sports turf industry."