Teaching a robot how to paint

Working as a contractor for BRDG Studios, I illustrated a series of portraits of Trevor Noah, Martha Stewart, and Jonathan Van Ness, brought to life by a painting robotic arm at a Wall Street Journal event. The installation combined fine art and engineering to create a dynamic display that blended physical media with emerging technology and amazed both the client and the audience.

Graphic Design

Illustration

Robot painting at event (photo from BRDG Studios)

Robot painting at event (photo from BRDG Studios)

I created vector-based portraits that served as the brush path data for the robot arm, carefully calibrating path density to ensure the brush produced solid, painted areas of coverage. Working closely with the engineering team, I placed anchor points throughout the vector paths to trigger the robot to dip the brush in the paint cups. Collaborating on this project and seeing the designs come to life in front of a live audience was extremely rewarding.