Autonomous Roofing: Drone Roofers

Drones with Nail Guns Just Nailed It



New Autonomous Roofers in Town
University of Michigan engineers and roboticists have invented a drone that can put a new roof on your house and do it autonomously.  The drone nails shingle to a rooftop and decides in flight where to target the nails.  The aerial vehicle is autonomous, positions the nail gun on a nailing point, places the nail and then moves on to the next point without any human intervention.  It's a cutting edge example of drones being capable of what can be dangerous construction work for humans.

Octocopter
The drone is a DJI S1000 octocopter equipped with a standard nail gun.  The drone uses a system of cameras and markers to cover test roofs with asphalt shingles.  The roofs have a range of slopes.

Machine Vs. Human
Right now, the University of Michigan team says the drone is less effective than a human roofer.  But they think the system will be improved by a power tethered system.   They want to take the drone off battery power that's limited to ten minutes and let it run as needed by the power cord tether.  They also believe they can enhance the system by color coding the shingles for removal.  You might call this new robotic technology "Just Nailed It" - the roofing drone that nails down shingles.

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