When it comes to car production, there's more than just what size engine can we put on what kind of transmission. One of my favorite parts of production is the paint. We recently reported on a self-healing paint job for Panoz vehicles. Now we have a robot at Audi that can paint multiple colors at once.

Until now, adding a second color to your car doubled the time (and cost) of the spray process. You sprayed once, waited for it to dry, laid a mask, and sprayed the next coat. This leaves the vehicle at risk of overspray if not properly managed.

Audi has grown tired of this inconvenience. They want to spray two colors at the same time without any overspray. And thus, the robot was born. Currently, it's only used to spray a colored body with a black roof. The highly focused animatronic can do details designs and sharp edges with no overspray, though. Best of all, it doesn't need to apply a mask.

The process, and the machine itself, are still in a developmental phase. But according to Audi, it's nearly ready for production and should be sent out next year. Ideally, this will mean we can expect to see higher levels of customizability in future cars.