With the Paintbrush painting drone, the “Space Ink” research project opens a new chapter in the future of art. With a digital drawing pen in hand, a drone is directed through space via tablet.
Not only the direction in which the remote-controlled painting tool moves, but also the ductus and color application are precisely controlled with the help of the tablet’s highly sensitive software. This is made possible by a combination with the SwarmOS control software that a team led by key researcher Peter Holzkorn at the Ars Electronica Futurelab has been developing and optimizing for many years. A state-of-the-art tracking system that captures the entire space along with the drone’s coordinates is an important component of the complex setup: the painting drone can thus be tracked and controlled in real time.
As part of the Future Ink research project, the Ars Electronica Futurelab has been working with pen and tablet manufacturer Wacom since 2020 to develop new forms of artistic expression. After experimenting last year with light paintings that were developed from the traces of luminous drones in space and projected onto the wall, these completely novel analog works are currently being created in large format: the paintings are somewhat reminiscent of Jackson Pollock’s action paintings and succeed by combining one of the most traditional artistic techniques with one of the most advanced technologies currently available.
Source: Ars Electronica