Motion-Controlled Graffiti Robot Keeps Your Hands Clean

It’s been a good few years for non-human graffiti artists, from this robotic street artists on wheels to Kendall Jenner’s recent billboard mishap. Now, thanks to design student Joao Whitaker, human and robot join together for a collaborative graffiti experience. With Whitaker’s Tinta Solta system, developed at the LIFE Physical Computing Lab at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio De Janeiro, the user becomes a living remote, dictating the path of the system’s spray painting bot at the flick of a wrist.

Placed in front of the canvas, wall, or building, Tinta Solta’s Kinect sensor detects the user’s movements, which, when sent through an Arduino custom controller, dictate the path of the drone-like apparatus with a 3D-printed spool. When the user’s hand comes closer to the Kinect, the device releases its paint, trailing a scalloped pattern unique to the artist, one that stylistically unites each work no matter the hand behind the can.

Watch the video below to see Tinta Solta in motion:

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