Some years ago, one of our “April Fool” edition stories involved a “drive-through” wide-format printer for direct-to-vehicle graphics. We intended it as a joke, but as it turns out, such a thing may someday actually exist outside the fevered imaginations of WhatTheyThink editors.

Case in point: a robotic inkjet printing system developed by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) that can print directly onto three-dimensional surfaces—specifically, airplanes.

Founded in 1947, the south Texas-based SwRI has around 3,000 employees and describes itself as “R&D problem solvers,” that provide “independent, premier services to government and industry clients.” They are active in space science, automotive, chemistry…and robotics.