Here is a project done at University of Illinois, which uses smartphones and irobot vacuum cleaner robots, in order to do painting for a predetermined shape. One robot is given the task of being central robot which coordinates other robots and each unit communicate with each other using smart phones. In the video, once a robot completes its task, which is painting the line that was assigned by the coordinating robot, it requests a new task from the coordinator. If there are any available tasks, the central robot gives the new assignment and the robot goes to the required location to paint the new line. If a new task is not available, the robot remains stationary. The project is led by Sayan Mitra, an Assitant Professor at University of Illinois. See video below:

More information can be found at:

https://wiki.cites.uiuc.edu/wiki/display/MitraResearch/StarL

  robot painting, robot swarm, swarm robot