Street Art Bot
When I saw the words "Street Art Bot" glowing on my computer screen, I clicked on the link with excitement. It seems though, that Fab Lab's robot leaves alot to be desired. In fact, I feel it is quite undeserving of the "Street Art Bot" title yet. Kudos to the team who built this interesting little machine in just one weekend, but I do hope they plan on improving this robot, or else leaving street art to be practiced by actual artists.The robot must be driven around by an operator and is programmed to dispense chalk (only liquid chalk so far) in a designated pattern. A camera is mounted above the drawing area (as seen atop the wooden post in the picture) and informs the robot of its location so that it can properly place the chalk marks.
As we can see in the picture, the "art" produced is simply a pattern of dots which barely form legible letters/words. The team behind the robot's creation hopes to someday include multiple chalk colors and possibly multiple robots that can print simultaneously in the designated area.
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Though this robot is very underdeveloped, I think the concept alone brings about an interesting point: that street art could go digital. This comes as no surprise when one considers that the large majority of any art produced these days has at least some small connection to technology. The robot is in fact, just a mobile printer that works with a unique medium outdoors.
But what would this mean for artists?
I can imagine only a few pro's compared to a large list of con's. For instance, I wonder if the robot could help artists avoid detection by authorities. Also, maybe the robot could be used to create accurate stencils for artists to work from. However, I think the idea of robots creating street art could be an insult to the art form. A large factor in the appeal of street art is that it involves the artist taking enormous risks to show their work. Street art invites artists to create something by hand in an environment that was constructed by machine.
I personally hope that the raw aspect of this form of self-expression is not depleted by the eventual influx of technology.
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