Patent ID: 7650852

Claim:
A modular apparatus for painting surfaces of a vehicle body moved along a path comprising: a modular apparatus including two guide rails; and at least one robot located on and movable along the length of each of said two guide rails; said guide rails comprising a pair of frame rails located on opposite sides of and extending generally parallel to the path of movement of the vehicle body, said frame rails being located above a plane of an upper surface of the vehicle body as the vehicle body travels the path, said frame rails being fixedly mounted on a rigid frame structure that prevents movement of one of said frame rails relative to another of said frame rails; said at least one robot comprising a first and a second robot arm mounted on an associated one of each of said frame rails, each of said first and second robot arms being slidably movable along said associated frame rail and having a shoulder axis and an elbow axis for movement only in a generally vertical plane transverse to the path of movement of the vehicle body, said shoulder axes being positioned below said associated frame rail; and a paint applicator mounted on each of said first and second robot arms for dispensing paint whereby each of said first and second robot arms is sized to move said paint applicator relative to the vehicle body while said paint applicators dispense paint to cover the upper surface and adjacent side surfaces of the vehicle body with the paint.