Drones have many uses in surveillance and surveying, industrial inspection, aerial photography and filmmaking, package delivery, even dynamic light-shows. Their fundamental ability to carry cameras, sensors and other equipment opened up these diverse applications. Now, research in the International Journal of Intelligent Machines and Robotics has explored another: the safe removal of moss and lichen from sloping roofs, an otherwise hazardous job for a worker.
The team used an Arduino-based autopilot system for a quadcopter-type drone capable of operating over horizontal or sloping roofs. It follows a programmed zig-zag, or “staircase”, trajectory designed to cover the roof systematically while avoiding obstacles.
Arduino is a low-cost, programmable electronics platform commonly used to control robots. The proposed system combines it with motors, batteries, electronic speed controllers (ESCs), which regulate motor power, and a flight controller that manages the aircraft’s movement and stability. The researchers point out that this seemingly mundane demonstration opens up possibilities for such machines to be used in other applications that otherwise involve risk to workers.
The prototype remains a development platform. Future work identified by the researchers includes improved obstacle handling and machine learning to better identify patterns from video input to allow the drone to adapt to unexpected situations.
Sanyal, S. (2026) ‘Intelligent autopilot drone robot for de-mossing ramped roofs’, Int. J. Intelligent Machines and Robotics, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp.22–44.
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