APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR APPLYING FLUIDS TO VERTICAL SURFACES NONMANUALLY AND PERFORMING OTHER NONMANUAL TASKS ADJACENT VERTICAL SURFACES

摘要

The present invention relates to an apparatus (10) for performing nonmanual tasks on and adjacent vertical or nearly vertical surfaces. The apparatus (10) is designed so that a portion of the apparatus can traverse the vertical or nearly vertical surfaces of structures (11) which may include obstacles such as window frames or gaps created by window seams, without coming into physical contact with those surfaces. The apparatus (10) includes a bottom control unit (16), a vehicle (12) for traversing the vertical or nearly vertical surfaces, and a top control unit (14). The vehicle (12) is maintained in a near constant spaced relationship to the vertical surfaces by flexible members (35) that connect the vehicle (12) to the top control unit (14) and bottom control unit (16).