Anyone who’s ever painted a room – or more – in their home knows that this job is the absolute worst for two reasons: first, because painting takes way more time, work, and precision than you think. And second, because you don’t ever remember that fact in advance, and always insist on doing it yourself to save the cash you’d shell out to a professional painter.
Unfortunately, that means not only do you suffer through the paint job, you then spend the next few years staring at that small spot in the corner where you accidentally went over the tape and onto the ceiling.
Er – maybe that’s just me.
Well, some young tech minds are taking on the manual painting industry. They go by the name of MIST and just might save you from the headache of DIY. MIST stands for Mobile Intelligent Spraying Technologies, and the idea is being incubated by a student-run team of mechatronics engineers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario.
MIST is in the process of developing an autonomous robot that’s designed to paint interiors, dubbed Maverick. According to Tech Crunch, it uses mapping technology and features a long neck that looks a bit like a vertical lift.
Plans are underway to add a mounted camera that can follow the sprayer up and down and add intelligent image processing – essentially making Maverick able to distinguish between spots that are meant to be painted and those that aren’t.
The team says it’s also implemented a paint quality detection algorithm, so the robot knows whether it’s completed the job effectively, or needs to add another coat – which certainly beats the “wait 'til it dries and you’ve already put all your supplies away, and then you notice the patchy areas” method.
The Waterloo team hasn’t gotten beyond the prototype phase yet and is still looking for backers as it tweaks Maverick, so if having a robot paint your house piques your interest, you can still sponsor this ambitious team.