A Semi-Autonomous Robot for Stripping Paint from Large Vessels

Abstract

The National Robotics Engineering Consortium and UltraStrip Systems Inc. have developed a highly flexible and productive robot to strip paint from large ships and other large ferro-magnetic structures based on the patents obtained by UltraStrip Systems, Inc. (US patents: 6,425,340; 5,849,099; 5,628,271). Removal of corrosion and coatings from large vessels has become a serious economic and environmental problem, and current practices are becoming infeasible. The M2000 robot removes paint from ships using ultrahigh pressure water jets and recovers the water and debris in an environmentally sound way. The addition of simple, easy-to-use, cruise control features to the robot has permitted significant increases in productivity, safety, and stripping quality.