Systems and methods for unmanned aerial painting applications

An Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) for applying a liquid to a surface, the UAS comprising:

• an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) including rotors, a body, a boom coupled to the body, a bumper disposed at a distal end of the boom, and a plurality of sensors disposed at the distal end of the boom, the plurality of sensors configured to detect, to the nearest centimeter, a position of the sensors relative to the surface, the UAV configured to receive first control signals and to adjust an operational configuration of the rotors in response to the first control signals;
• a liquid delivery assembly connected to the UAV, the liquid delivery assembly including a nozzle, the nozzle disposed at the distal end of the boom, the boom, rotors, and nozzle arranged such that the nozzle is disposed further away from the body than the rotors, the liquid delivery assembly configured to receive second control signals and to apply the liquid to the surface with the nozzle in response to the second control signals, and
• a control unit configured to transmit the first control signals and the second control signals to the UAV and the liquid delivery assembly, respectively, the control unit configured to calculate a position of the nozzle relative to the surface based at least upon the position of the sensors relative to the surface, the control unit configured to automatically adjust the operational configuration of the rotors in response to the calculated position of the nozzle relative to the surface such that the UAV travels along a predetermined flight path adjacent to the surface and the nozzle is maintained at an optimum distance from the surface as the UAV travels along the predetermined flight path, wherein the optimum distance is less than thirty centimeters, and wherein the bumper is arranged to protect the nozzle and the sensors if the bumper contacts the surface during travel of the UAV along the predetermined flight path.

An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), comprising:

• a body;
• a rotor coupled to the body, an operational configuration of the rotor responsive to a first control signal;
• a boom coupled to the body;
• a nozzle coupled to a distal end of the boom, an operational configuration of the nozzle responsive to a second control signal, the rotor, boom, and nozzle arranged such that the nozzle is disposed further away from the body than the rotor;
• a bumper disposed at the distal end of the boom;
• a sensor disposed at the distal end of the boom, the sensor configured to generate a detection signal associated with a distance between the sensor and a surface disposed proximate to the sensor;
• a control unit configured to calculate a distance between the nozzle and the surface based at least upon the detection signal, the control unit configured to generate the first control signal based at least upon the distance between the nozzle and the surface to automatically adjust the operational configuration of the rotor such that the UAV travels along a predetermined flight path adjacent to the surface and the nozzle is maintained at an optimum distance from the surface as the UAV travels along the predetermined flight path, wherein the optimum distance is less than thirty centimeters, and wherein the bumper is arranged to protect the nozzle and the sensor if the bumper contacts the surface during travel of the UAV along the predetermined flight path.