“The technology in this domain is reaching a point of no going back.” One of the developers of this new paint robot poses this invention as a way to make up for a sparse labor market, get projects done faster and more accurately, and deploy your crew and staff more safely and efficiently.
“MYRO, by Eternal Robotics, is an autonomous wall painting robot for the construction sector, and the first product to be globally launched by the company in the markets of USA, India, GCC [Middle-East Gulf states] and Asia,” says the company website. Developed by researchers in India, the robot was, they believe, the answer to monotonous and hazardous painting projects as well as an answer to the shortage of workers faced in India and around the world.
While MYRO does a lot of the work, it still needs some supervision and programming. It can be controlled by an iPad, and once given a floor plan, it knows what to paint and not to paint. It sets to work with a production rate about 10 times faster than any human-powered system, according to its developers. By monitoring its output, users can learn to better program the machine for even faster and more accurate results. This won’t eliminate the need for a crew, but it will allow you to put them to better use. “By robotizing necessary but tedious tasks, we can enable industry leaders to focus solely on scaling their success,” says the company. The robot can of course work evenings, and weekends, and longer shifts, allowing you and your crew to get a project done faster than before.
Four years in the making, MYRO, built from scratch, took four years of research to create, and now that it’s complete, its developers report that it can paint approximately 1,000 square feet per hour. It sprays at a constant velocity at a consistent distance from the substrate to ensure an even finish. This might be a call for your crew to become more tech savvy: as the company states, “With several functions to create, delegate, and modify detailed work plans to MYRO, operators can utilize their valuable time in planning, inspection as well as attending to the finer details of the job.”
Save money on large commercial projects
An introductory video says that it can save you over $24,000 USD on a one million square foot project. The robot has an estimated lifespan of over five years or twelve million square feet and should pay for itself within a year and a half, the company reports.
This isn’t, as of now, designed for a home repaint contractor — its size, weight, and cost make it a more efficient purchase for a company involved in larger commercial projects.
An article blogged by Goliath Automation & Robotics earlier this year stated that, “At 6.2ft x 2.3ft x 2.3ft and weighing just under 150kg, MYRO is not exactly a household appliance. Its primary target market is large companies in the construction, interior design, or remodeling industries that want to optimize their operations.”
The article went on to say that the robot can reach high up with a mechanical arm, and it can also recognize corners, windows, gaps and other issues to avoid. Along with that, it knows if someone or something is in the way and will report the problem to its “supervisor.”
The robot, designed mainly for painting in a bare space, was initially demonstrated in Dubai last year. It was deployed in a luxury Downtown Dubai skyscraper project and, according to an article in Arabian Business, was scheduled for use in Brazil and the United States. “While a single apartment unit takes up to four man-days of manual painting, MYRO can auto-paint it within four hours,” the article stated.
Who knows, perhaps they’ll come up with a “sanding and scraping” robot next!
Find out more at: Video Production for Product overview – YouTube
