SwRI develops inkjet system for direct-to-airplane printing

The Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has developed a prototype robotic inkjet printing system that can print directly onto three-dimensional surfaces—specifically, airplanes. At the institute, a large-scale prototype with industrial inkjet printing heads mounted to a robotic manipulator was developed, enabling digital graphic printing on 3D surfaces. Initially created for the aerospace industry, this inkjet prototype system was developed to apply coloured graphics, also known as liveries, to the exterior of commercial aircraft.

Since being demonstrated in 2019, SwRI has developed inkjet systems for other markets including automotive and logistics—printing both multi-colored graphics and non-graphical, functional fluids. SwRI currently has two patents in the space of robotic inkjet printing—high accuracy inkjet printing & printing using an externally generated reference. SwRI’s solution for robotic inkjet 3D printing is comprised of two main components: the printing system and localisation system.