Skip to main content

Robot assembly line painting system saves paint, steals another job

It’s no secret that the combination of robots and artificial intelligence are changing the workplace as we know it. Over the past couple of years, we have seen robot chefs, robot bricklayers, robot lawyers, and any other number of artificial intelligence-enabled machines that can carry out the jobs once reserved for humans. One area we often view as relatively safe, however, are bespoke jobs — such as carrying out custom paint jobs in manufacturing. The reason for this is that, while industrial robots have long been able to help with processes like painting, this has previously been limited to large batch sizes of identical components — with humans carrying out the more complex paint jobs, as well as performing inspections where robots are used.

A new system called SelfPaint, developed by German and Swedish scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute, may change that. Instead of the comparatively dumb painting systems used in traditional assembly lines, SelfPaint is a self-programming system designed to reflect a world of user customization in which batch sizes for products is as likely to be one as it is 100,000.

Recommended Videos

SelfPaint starts its painting process by producing a three-dimensional scan of the component in question. From this, smart algorithms then simulate the trajectory of the paint particles to work out the optimum volume of paint and air that are necessary to achieve a desired coating thickness. The system then plans the robot’s path so that it can paint most effectively. After the painting is done, it then uses a beam of light at a wavelength between microwave and infrared to measure the wet, colored paint quality. All of this is achieved without human intervention.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

It’s an impressive tech demo — and its creators claim that it can save up to 20 percent in paint, reduce solvent emissions by 20 percent, consume 15 percent less energy, and complete the work 5 percent faster than conventional painting processes. In other words, there goes another job once occupied by humans!

“The first half of the project has been completed,” researcher Oliver Tiedje told Digital Trends. “That means that the scanning, simulation, path-planning, painting, and film build measurement modules have been separately developed, while we hope that the interactions and interfaces will be developed by the start of 2019.”

Still, regardless of our fears about an AI job takeover, you cannot help but think SelfPaint would be a pretty sweet addition to any self-respecting “maker” studio. We await the inevitable Kickstarter in a couple of years!

Luke Dormehl
Former Digital Trends Contributor
I'm a UK-based tech writer covering Cool Tech at Digital Trends. I've also written for Fast Company, Wired, the Guardian…
Because 2020’s not crazy enough, a robot mouth is singing A.I. prayers in Paris
The Prayer

Diemut Strebe: The Prayer

In these troubling, confusing times, it can be tough to know who to turn to for help. One possible answer? A disembodied robot mouth chanting algorithmically generated Gregorian-style prayers in the voice of Amazon’s Kendra.

Read more
This Google robot taught itself to walk, with no help whatsoever, in two hours
Google Robot

Do you remember that scene in Walt Disney’s Bambi where the titular fawn learns to stand up and walk under its own power? It’s a charming vignette in the movie, showcasing a skill that plenty of baby animals -- from pigs to giraffe to, yes, deer -- pick up within minutes of their birth. Over the first few hours of life, these animals rapidly refine their motor skills until they have full control over their own locomotion. Humans, who learn to stand holding onto things at around seven months and who begin walking at 15 months, are hopelessly sluggish by comparison.

Guess what the latest task that robots have beaten us at? In a new study carried out by researchers at Google, engineers have taught a quadruped Minitaur robot to walk by, well, not really having to teach it much at all. Rather, they’ve used a a type of goal-oriented artificial intelligence to make a four-legged robot learn how to walk forward, backward, and turn left and right entirely on its own. It was able to successfully teach itself to do this on three different terrains, including flat ground, a soft mattress, and a doormat with crevices.

Read more
Ballie is a rolling robot from Samsung that can help around the smart home
Samsung's ball-shaped robot, called Ballie.

It looks like a grapefruit. It rolls like a grapefruit. But it most certainly is not a grapefruit. It's Ballie, a new spherical robot from Samsung.

The new ball-shaped bot made its debut on the stage at Samsung’s CES event on Monday night, appearing alongside HS Kim, who leads the tech giant's consumer electronics unit.

Read more