The Hardest Worker at Diadem Pickleball Complex Doesn’t Punch a Clock

At Diadem Pickleball Complex in Jensen Beach, Florida, there’s little doubt who works the most hours and the worst shifts, for the least amount of pay. It’s not the front-desk lead, head pro, or general manager. It’s Rosie.  

“We jokingly say that Rosie is our hardest worker,” says Kyle Prats, General Manager of the new Jensen Beach location.  Rosie is the nickname Prats and crew have given their new autonomous court cleaning robot.

 “She goes Monday, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays in the evenings once we’re closed and works after hours and is able to clean all of our courts without really a lot of effort from our end. All that we have to do is when we show up the next morning, we empty the bag, make sure everything’s in working order, and then set her up for success for the next run.”

Rosie — an autonomous cleaning robot from Alpharetta, Georgia-based ToDo Robotics — is part of an ambitious expansion strategy. Diadem recently opened the Jensen Beach facility in partnership with Elevate Indoor Amusement Park, a family entertainment venue featuring go-karts, mini-golf, laser tag and an arcade. The pickleball component anchors the complex with eight indoor courts: two front courts dedicated to beginner clinics and private lessons, and a back room housing six additional courts used for open play, leagues, tournaments, round robins and reservations.

And it’s just the beginning. “We just expanded from the flagship Diadem Pickleball Complex in Coconut Creek here to Jensen Beach,” Prats says. “We have plans to add 10 more of these facilities in the state of Florida in the next 18 months.”

Scaling at that pace forces a hard look at every operational task — and court cleaning, it turns out, is one of the biggest hidden costs in the business.

The Problem: Court Cleaning Eats Hours, Not Just Dollars

Anyone who runs a multi-court indoor pickleball facility knows the drill. Dust, sand, drink residue, the fine grit from pickleball and that gets tracked in from parking lots all settle on the playing surface. Left unaddressed, that debris doesn’t just look bad — it affects ball bounce, traction, and ultimately the guest experience. On newly built courts, the problem is even worse, as fresh surfaces shed grit for weeks or months after installation.

Traditional answers to this problem all involve a person, a push-broom-style vacuum or scrubber, and a meaningful chunk of payroll.

“To clean the courts, if we were doing it during working hours with an employee, I would say it could take anywhere from two to three hours to clean those courts,” Prats says. “Especially if we’re doing the six in the back room and the two up front, it would definitely take that amount of time.”

Multiply that by three or four cleanings per week, across multiple facilities, and the math gets ugly fast. But Prats is quick to point out that the most compelling argument for automation isn’t really the labor cost. It’s the opportunity cost.

“It wasn’t necessarily from a labor perspective, it was more so from a time perspective,” he says. “I’d rather have our staff doing something more productive with their time than having to sit there, push a cart or a vacuum to clean the court instead of having the automated aspects.”

Then there’s the scheduling. Cleaning during operating hours interrupts play. Cleaning after close means asking employees to stay late.

“If we had to have our employees staying after hours, that’s even more of a, not an issue, but more of a something that we don’t want them doing,” Prats says. “Something that we’d rather them be able to go home to their families when we do close and be able to do something more productive — whether it’s engaging with our guests, whether it’s playing in open play with some folks and just having a good time and providing a quality guest experience.”

The Solution: A Robot That Deploys Itself

Enter ToDo Robotics. The company distributes a portfolio of service and cleaning robots across hospitality, retail, healthcare, logistics, and — increasingly — sports and recreation facilities. Their cleaning lineup ranges from compact vacuums to large ride-on scrubbers.

Curt Johnson, Senior Director at ToDo R obotics, says for pickleball court cleaning, one model has emerged as the workhorse: the Phantas Pro S1.

“He deploys on his own, he’ll go out, he’ll work three hours, he’ll come back to his charging station and charge for an hour and a half. 5 a.m., 6 a.m., you get there. He’s all nestled in his spot fully charged. All you have to do is change out the bag, check the rollers,” Johnson says.

That set-it-and-forget-it autonomy is exactly what attracted Diadem. The Phantas is a four-mode floor cleaner. It can vacuum, sweep, scrub and dust mop. It identifies floor types automatically, adjusting brush height to protect the surface. Onboard 2D LiDAR, 3D depth cameras and an RGB camera handle navigation and obstacle avoidance. Self-service docking stations let it charge and resume on its own, enabling around-the-clock operation. A mobile app allows operators to launch cleaning tasks remotely or schedule them in advance.

At Diadem’s Jensen Beach location, Rosie runs after the doors close. “It runs after hours so we run 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day except Sundays where we close at 9 p.m., and that robot is running in the after hours so it doesn’t impede any type of play during the day,” Prats says.

How It Works in Practice

Diadem currently uses the Phantas in vacuum mode and supplements it with a manual scrubber for spot cleaning and spills. That decision was deliberate — and it points to one of the more nuanced realities of deploying autonomous cleaning on brand-new courts.

“As these courts were built, they’re very new. They were just put down. There’s a lot of grit and a lot of sand on the courts,” Prats says. “And this is the reason why we haven’t done the scrubbing yet — we wanted to get to a point where we reduce the amount of dust and the amount of sand that’s being picked up on the court from the machine in the vacuum. Get it to a consistent level where it’s kind of balanced itself out, and then we go ahead and scrub it.”

Beyond the autonomous unit, Diadem also keeps a manual scrubber on hand. “If there’s any spills it’s very quick to clean those up, as well as when we need to spot clean a court or scrub it, we can absolutely do that with the manual cleaner,” Prats says. The two-machine approach has become a common configuration among early adopters.

Reliability, Support, and the Inevitable Learning Curve

No technology rollout is friction-free, and Prats is candid about the small hiccups along the way. What has impressed him most isn’t that the robot has been perfect — it’s that ToDo Robotics has been responsive when it isn’t.

“It’s done a really good job where it’s being consistent — where the level of clean it does is consistent each time that it does it,” he says. “There’s been a couple of things here and there, but ToDo Robotics has been very receptive — whether it’s submitting a ticket through Freshdesk or honestly having a personal relationship with Curt where I’m able to ask different questions, has been very helpful. Their customer service has been extremely helpful.”

Two specific issues illustrate the kind of fine-tuning involved. The first was brush wear: the textured surface on Diadem’s courts created more friction than typical commercial flooring, accelerating brush wear. The second was brush height — the brush needed to sit slightly lower so it would actually engage with the court surface rather than skim it. Both were resolved through conversations with the ToDo support team, who can connect to the robot remotely and push fixes.

“We were able to kind of remedy that through just conversations with them, and they were able to connect to the robot and get that fixed,” Prats says.

That remote diagnostic capability is one of the quieter advantages of modern service robotics. Rather than dispatching a technician for every adjustment, ToDo can resolve many issues from headquarters — saving downtime and travel costs.

A Broader Shift Toward Automation in Facility Management

ToDo Robotics has been carving out a niche in commercial cleaning for several years, with deployments across hotels, shopping centers, restaurants, retail stores and healthcare environments. Their Cleaning and Facilities Management category has been particularly active, driven by labor shortages, rising wage costs, and an industry-wide push toward more consistent, data-trackable cleaning standards.

Pickleball and padel facilities are a logical extension. The sport’s explosive growth has created a wave of new construction, with many operators running multi-court venues for the first time and looking for ways to control operating costs while maintaining a premium experience. Robotic cleaning fits that need multiple ways: it’s quiet, it’s overnight, doesn’t call in sick, and produces a measurable, repeatable result.

It also reframes the conversation about staffing. Rather than hiring an additional team member to handle cleaning and dealing with turnover, scheduling and training, operators can redeploy existing staff toward revenue-generating activities like programming, lessons, retail, food and beverage, and member engagement.

The Pitch to Other Operators

Asked what he would say to a facility owner considering the investment, Prats keeps it simple.

“It’s been great. You don’t have to worry about yourself or your employee having to push around a manual scrubber or a manual vacuum to get these courts cleaned. You can kind of set it and forget it on a schedule. And it takes that aspect of the job away and gives you a little bit more peace of mind on the cleanliness of your courts and making sure you’re providing that quality aspect to your guest experience.”

Looking Ahead

As Diadem prepares to roll out additional Florida locations, the cleaning protocol will travel with them. Each new facility will get its own Phantas. And Rosie? Prats knows she’ll show up again tomorrow for work.

Sidebar: What to Consider Before Adding a Cleaning Robot to Your Facility

Court surface and age. Newly installed courts shed grit for weeks. Plan to run vacuum-only cycles before introducing scrubbing, and budget for replacement brushes in the first six to twelve months.

Facility footprint. Robots like the Phantas are sized for small to mid-size venues. Larger complexes may need multiple units or a larger model in the same product family.

Power and docking. Allow space for a charging dock with clear access. Most autonomous units need a permanent home base where they can charge and resume.

After-hours operation. Confirm your alarm system, lighting, and HVAC settings are compatible with overnight robot operation.

Support model. Ask vendors about remote diagnostics, ticketing systems, parts availability, and the relationship you’ll have with a dedicated representative. The best technology in the world is only as good as the support behind it.

Manual backup. Even with automation, keep a manual scrubber or vacuum on hand for spills, spot cleaning, and the occasional moment when the robot needs help.