PaintCopter: Autonomous UAV for Quickly Painting Industrial Structures

Robotic painting using a UAV could produce accurate and fast painting results on large 3D structures, while being low-cost and avoiding the need for scaffolding and ladders. In a paper from Disney Research, published in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters , researchers describe a system for autonomous spray painting using a UAV that is suitable for industrial applications. The 'PaintCopter' is a quadrotor that has been custom fitted with an arm and a spray gun on a pan-tilt mechanism.