Robotic spray-painter creates huge multi-coloured mural

Record ID: 904115

  • Title: Robotic spray-painter creates huge multi-coloured mural
  • Date: 27th July 2017
  • Summary: TARTU, ESTONIA (RECENT - JUNE 17, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CHIMNEY IN TARTU CITY CENTER VARIOUS OF SPRAYPRINTER CHIEF INVENTOR MIHKEL JOALA AND HIS COLLEAGUE WEARING CLIMBING GEAR JOALA GOING TO CHIMNEY VARIOUS OF JOALA CLIMBING UP TARTU, ESTONIA (JULY 25, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF INVENTOR OF SPRAYPRINTER, MIHKEL JOALA, SAYING: "So this is spray printer that prints big images. This is the robotic version that we are going turn into a product but this is a prototype. And what we have here is a five-colour printer, it prints five colours at a time and they, they blend into many many many colors if you look (at) it from a distance". PRINTER MOVING UP CHIMNEY SERVO MOTOR MOVING PRINTER VARIOUS OF PRINTER MOVING DOWN SPRAY PRINTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF INVENTOR OF SPRAYPRINTER, MIHKEL JOALA, SAYING: "The real beauty in this is that the size is very, very scalable. It's so scalable that we are actually planning to break the world record of the biggest mural in the world."
  • Embargoed: 10th August 2017 11:32
  • Keywords: Sprayprinter inventor Mikhel Joala demonstrating product prototype mural
  • Location: TARTU, ESTONIA
  • City: TARTU, ESTONIA
  • Country: Estonia
  • Topics: Science
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016RHTG7V
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Mihkel Joala wants to add a splash of color to the cities of the world.
    To do that the Estonian inventor has created a robotic five-color spray-painter that he says can produce murals 100-metres tall on buildings. With it, Joala says he is ready to break world records.
    To test his prototype, Joala's startup company Sprayprinter decided to print one of the tallest buildings in Tartu - the chimney of a local heat supply company.
    In order to achieve this, Joala and his colleagues donned climbing gear and fixed the printer's prototype to vertical and horizontal cords. A computer connected to the printer then sent coordinates to the printer and its motor telling it where to spray-paint, and in which colour.
    For 14 hours, the printer moved up and down on the chimney to create an artwork designed by Estonian artist Maari Soekov. Eventually, after about 30 cans of spraypraint, the image of a girl holding a tree in her hands appeared.
    Joala said the message is environmental, in favor of renewable energy resources.
    "The main message in this artwork is that we need more plants and less chimneys," he said.
    The image, which now can be seen from many places in Tartu, is 30 metres tall and about 6 metres wide.
    Joala's first idea was to use a remotely-controlled robot that would splash paint as required but that proved too difficult with external elements such as wind or rain. That's when Joala came up with the idea of a spray-printer connected to a computer and attached with cables over the surface to paint.
    Joala envisions the end product as a four-motor suitcase connected by cables to the print-head. It will first be intended for straight surfaces, he said.
    A smaller-sized set will be able to print images 4 metres tall and 4 metres wide. A larger set would be able to take on larger projects, creating images of 100 by 100 metres.
    Sprayprinter plans to launch its first printers by the end of 2017. Wider production is planned in 2018.
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