2022 · Robotic Painting / Physical Computing

Robot Painting System

A hand sets the arm’s path; the robot repeats it in paint.

Portfolio working title

Operation documentation · 24 seconds Watch on YouTube

A hand holding the wooden potentiometer dummy arm beside the wired robotic arm — A wooden dummy arm alongside the wired robot

Shaping the movement

Inspired by Sisyphus, the project began with the idea of a robot repeatedly lifting a ball uphill. It developed into a painting system, using a paint-covered ball and a rotating canvas to turn repetition into a physical trace.

The wooden robot was built around Arduino and servo motors. A separate dummy arm fitted with potentiometers let its movement be shaped by hand. The work note records how those angle values were captured and used to reproduce movement on the actual arm.

A record of movement, made visible

Paint carried by the ball leaves overlapping marks on the surface. The resulting painting holds the traces of the system and its maker.

Resulting painting with a paint-covered ball and overlapping trails of red, blue, yellow, white, and dark paint — The painting made by the robot and its maker