Not all wall graffiti are works of art and not all places probably appreciate having public walls defaced with various tags and sometimes graphic illustrations. There’s probably a fine line between street art and vandalism that really depends on the community around it and on the eye of the beholder. For those communities that are beset with vandalism issue, having a device that can help out in detecting and painting over these unwanted tags may be a good thing to have.

Designer: Valerio Cometti + V12 Design

T.R.S. 001 or Tag Removal System is a robot that can geometrically and chromatically analyze a wall through the color-detection cameras in front of it. It is able to record the size and position of the various elements of a wall or building like doors, windows, gutters. It is also able to detect the colors of the wall, which is pretty important for the other main feature of the robot. Not only can it detect the tags, it is also able to cover them since the system includes paints and nozzles.

The robot is able to detect the color then mix the color needed to paint over them. The stem is able to raise itself up to 1 meter and can reach a maximum height of 3 meters, enough to cover the ground floor. It also has RGB LED strips so you know if it’s working. It also has proximity sensors so it will be able to detect if there may be obstacles they have to work around, kind of like with a lot of robo vacuums now. To move around properly, the robot has omnidirectional wheels.

Depending on how you feel about graffiti or vandalism, the T.R.S 001 can be a useful tool or something that can be used to stifle freedom of expression. It looks just like a humidifier or an air cooler so it doesn’t have the menacing look of a future robot overlord that is trying to erase any sense of creativity or non-conformity in a city.