FINALIST 
Category : GENERAL
By GRAFFITI BOT (Thailand)
What will happen when a robotic arm collaborates with a Thai graffiti artist? Let us redefine the relationship between art and robot and find out more about what lies ahead for creators! GRAFFITI BOT is one of the collaborative projects that challenge the capabilities of robotic arms in the art industry.
While robotic teams worked in outdoor conditions, they were tasked with solving on-site obstacles and the challenge of teaching a robotic arm to work as a GRAFFITI artist. The result of this project is not only a work of art, but also offers solutions for using robotic arms outdoors. This project gave an opportunity for the graffiti spray manufacturer to develop a new graffiti spray products. Also, it raised the awareness of robotic technology in the design industry.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/127472541@N05/albums/72157662794607189
We used Delcam software to control the ABB robotic arm (ROBOT IBB 2600 M2004 with IRC5 Controller) to generate a tool path from the graffiti artist's vector file. After using CNC to make the spray gripper for the robotic arm, and moving the machine to the site, it took us 1 week to solve onsite challenges such as surface calibration, spray force and distance adjustment. It took us another 3 days to complete the graffiti work with spray template made with a laser cut (Trotec Speedy 300) on the wall.
Yukiko Shikata
Yukiko Shikata
This project is a collaboration between a local graffiti artist and a robotic arm. Graffiti originally started out as an illegally activity whereby “tags” where left in public spaces and it has now developed into something where a graffiti artist collaborates with a robotic arm and the engineers who control it. This attempt to reproduce the artist's physicality and creativity with a robot has brought technicians out of their labs to the outdoors to create this collaboration that has never been seen before. This project touches on the current issue of whether it is possible to recreate art through science, technology and the rapidly advancing AI research. More than anything, the graffiti and the expression of accomplishment on the faces of the participants who created the graffiti have left a lasting impression on me.
