Indoor and outdoor aerial vehicles for painting and related applications
First Claim
1. An aerial operations system, comprising:
- an unmanned aerial vehicle comprising a sprayer comprising a spray nozzle to spray a paint;
a base station comprising a sprayable material supply and a power supply;
a tether interconnecting the unmanned aerial vehicle and the base station, the tether providing the aerial vehicle with power from the power supply and a sprayable material from the sprayable material supply wherein the sprayable material comprises the paint;
at least one sensor on the unmanned aerial vehicle to sense a surface of a structure to be painted; and
a command and control system, in response to inputs from the at least one sensor, to pilot the unmanned aerial vehicle to an attitude, altitude and a position along a flight path relative to the surface for spraying the paint on the surface through the spray nozzle, the spray nozzle being positioned relative to the surface to apply the paint from a calculated distance being calculated based on wind speed and at least one of spray material viscosity and desired thickness of the paint and wherein the command and control system to position and at least one of extend, adjust orientation of and retract the spray nozzle to apply the paint to the surface.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An aerial operations system for performing various tasks such as painting is provided. The modular aerial operations system includes an aerial vehicle capable of vertically taking off and landing, hovering and precisely maneuvering near walls and other structures. The aerial vehicle may be a rotorcraft such as a multicopter. In an aspect, as aerial vehicle paints one or more designated surfaces using detachable arms and equipment. The system may paint the designated surface in one of several available techniques using paint provided in a container such as an attached reservoir, a base station, a paint can, or the like. The aerial operations system provided may also be configured to perform a variety of other tasks.
-
Citations
28 Claims
-
1. An aerial operations system, comprising:
-
an unmanned aerial vehicle comprising a sprayer comprising a spray nozzle to spray a paint; a base station comprising a sprayable material supply and a power supply; a tether interconnecting the unmanned aerial vehicle and the base station, the tether providing the aerial vehicle with power from the power supply and a sprayable material from the sprayable material supply wherein the sprayable material comprises the paint; at least one sensor on the unmanned aerial vehicle to sense a surface of a structure to be painted; and a command and control system, in response to inputs from the at least one sensor, to pilot the unmanned aerial vehicle to an attitude, altitude and a position along a flight path relative to the surface for spraying the paint on the surface through the spray nozzle, the spray nozzle being positioned relative to the surface to apply the paint from a calculated distance being calculated based on wind speed and at least one of spray material viscosity and desired thickness of the paint and wherein the command and control system to position and at least one of extend, adjust orientation of and retract the spray nozzle to apply the paint to the surface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. An aerial operations system, comprising:
-
an unmanned aerial vehicle comprising at least one accessory attachment point; a plurality of add-on accessories releasably connected individually to the unmanned aerial vehicle at the at least one accessory attachment point, the plurality of add-on accessories comprises a first add-on accessory configured to physically interact with and make contact with a surface of a structure and a second add-on accessory being a paint sprayer comprising a sprayer nozzle to paint at least a portion of the structure; at least one sensor on the unmanned aerial vehicle to sense the surface of the structure to create sensor inputs; a base station comprising;
a command and control system controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle in response to the sensor inputs and a connected add-on accessory; and
a power supply; anda tether interconnects the unmanned aerial vehicle and the base station, the tether providing the unmanned aerial vehicle with power from the power supply and provides communications from the command and control system to the unmanned aerial vehicle, wherein the command and control system, in response to the inputs from the at least one sensor, pilots the unmanned aerial vehicle to an attitude, altitude and a position along a flight path relative to the surface for spraying the paint on the surface through the spray nozzle, when painting, the spray nozzle being positioned relative to the surface to apply the paint from a calculated distance being calculated based on wind speed and at least one of spray material viscosity and desired thickness of the paint and wherein the command and control system to position and at least one of extend, adjust orientation of and retract the spray nozzle to apply the paint to the surface. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28)
-
Specification