base station

The Turf Tank robots, which weight up to 132 pounds and can hold 5.3 gallons of paint, are controlled by a computer tablet and guided by GPS technology linked to a portable base station, which acts as a reference point.

The drone then flies back to the base station.

Each base station will have 30 drones and will send out 150 or more flights a day.

"Most people probably use a Wi-Fi base station that fills the room with wireless signals," said Daniel Mittleman, a professor in Brown's School of Engineering and senior author of the study.

They commit to being on call either 120 or 90 hours a week, during which time they must stay within minutes of their base station.