My first robot project, a self driving car in 2005

Just reading that all new TESLA vehicles will be completely self driving and it made me think about my very first robot project. For the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge II, I was a member of Team ENSCO and we built a self driving car that drove 86 glorious miles before careening into a tree.  The robot and our work on it can be seen in the video below. 

You can also see some cool things on our test vehicle, my 2005 Honda Element.  That weird looking thing on top is an experimental Velodyne LIDAR system.  Whenever you see a self driving Google car, it usually has the modern version of this contraption spinning around on top.  For two weeks we experimented with the very first prototype in existence.  I was actually pulled over by the Capital Police as we drove this vehicle around Capital Hill on a test run.  The officers nearly arrested me after asking me what the spinning thing on top of my car was and I foolishly responded "It's an array of 64 lasers, um wait, they aren't harmful lasers, let me explain..."

Among many interesting lessons in the project was marketing. Over the course of the project we would always spend lots of time explaining what an autonomous car was.  No one understood the word autonomous yet everyone in the industry insisted on calling them autonomous. Well in the ten years since it would appear that the marketers finally got involved and had the wisdom to just call them "self driving".  Which just shows you how clueless we engineers are.

The Early Robots

Went searching for and found these images of the early robots.  

The first robot started with a lot of wood pieces. 

The very first paint head was a disaster, but this second one worked real well.

The Second Robot was built to be more mobile.  It fit just barely through doors.

The third, of which I have lost all the photos except this one, was built to be massive.  It filled a room.  Also important was that it had an open face so I could photograph the painting more easily in order to use feedback loops in the painting logic.

After these unnamed machines came Crowd Painter, BitPaintr, Neural Jet, and cloudpainter.

Talked Portraiture With Chuck Close at the White House

As you know, I was invited to White House for SXSL.  I have many good pictures of what was a real fun day. But I wanted to share this one in particular 'cause I am still processing how awesome meeting Chuck Close was.

So when I saw Chuck Close on the South Lawn, I realized that I had to introduce myself. As an artist he has always been a favorite, if not the favorite, though its sort of impossible to rank something like that.  I have long imitated many of his concepts in my own art.  I even designed my fourth robot to fit large canvases so it could paint portraits on the scale of his work.

While I wasn't expecting to be starstruck when I went up to introduce myself, I was. I didn't know what to say so I just told him I was a portrait artist to which he replied that he was sorry to hear that as it was a horrible line of work to be in. Then we chatted about portraiture briefly where he made a couple of other jokes before asking to see some of my work.  I wasn't expecting that, either his interest in my work, or his compassionate humor.  I showed him some portraits of my family on my phone, said my thanks for taking the time to talk with me, then went on my way.

I wanted to talk to him longer but at same time didn't want to be a harasser.

Ten Years of Progress on Painting Robots

These pics both show my very first painting robot head and the most recent one.  The first, which could hold only one brush, was made from parts found lying around my house including old pieces of wood, a handmade electromagnet, tape, and deck parts.  The most recent can hold and operate nine different kinds of brushes and is almost completely 3D printed.  Some of the plastic even glows in the dark.

Airbrush Actuator Complete

It is amazing how much an invitation from the White House can speed up development.  Long hours this weekend went into getting a working airbrush prototype.  While paint brushes will remain the primary mark making device in the Neural Jet, it will be cool to have them backed up by five airbrushes with the ability to quickly paint backgrounds.  

Also cool that we went with the servos instead of something like a solenoid to control air flow.  With our servos we can actuate the air coming out to 16 different pressures.  So mixing becomes possible, and since we have 5 airbrushes on the paint head, the Neural Jet will be able to paint over 1,000,000 colors (16^5).  Yeah this part of the project really is just re-inventing a printer, but coupled with the other mark making tools that are coming, it will be on the next level.  You can see the prototype in action below.

Refined Paint Head (Model R)

Based on the initial prototype, which we were actually very pleased with, we went back to the white board and tackled some of its shortcomings.  The primary issue we had to address was how was a robot arm or xy-table going to hold on to this thing.

That was when Hunter came up with the idea of supporting the entire paint head from the center with 2" bolts.  So we redesigned the tray to hold 9 2" 6-32 bolts.  Above these bolts an aluminum disk would serve as the mounting surface.  With this configuration any module that consisted of a 40 degree arc with a 3.5" radius, could just snap into place.

As always, here is the final Google Sketch file so anyone that wants to can design this along with us.

Design Meeting

Dante, Hunter, Corinne, and I sat down to design our new painting robot and define its technical requirements.

The biggest decision made, among many important ones, was to design the new robotic paint head to work on both an XY-Table and and Robotic Arm. We did a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of the two and they were pretty even.  Thats when Hunter asked if the head would work on either and we realized that we did not have to choose between the two.  There was probably a way to design it to work on either. As a result of the meeting, our focus has shifted from make a Painting Robot, to concentrating on making a Painting Robot Head (or Tool) that can be used by any robot whether it be an XY Table, Robot Arm, or even something anthropomorphic like an Asimo.  We will design a robot around this Paint Head, but its cool to think about how to design the paint head so that any robot can use it.

You can see the details we arrived at on the white board but to summarize main features:

1: will have 6 airbrushes, a paintbrush, and camera.
2: will require 6 valves and a servo for the brush.
3: will need air supply, power, and comm line.

We have not yet determined whether or not controller will be part of robot paint head, or stored in separate module along with air compressor.

Some concerns we have are: 

1: Will there be enough paint in Airbrush reservoirs?
2: Where are we going to put camera?
3: How will we raise and lower traditional brush?  

But most importantly, we are trying to figure out what Corinne meant by her contribution to the meeting in the photo below. We sense that its something big, but what could it mean?

TEDx Talk Now Live

Thanks to everyone backing this KickStarter, things got bigger than I imagined they ever would. 

After this project's success, things went semi-viral and my art was featured on multiple television programs, dozens of print and online pieces, earned Second Place and over $20,000 in an international Robot Art Competition, and oh yeah, the coolest thing was my recent TEDx Talk which you can check out here 

When this started out, I had a goal of two exhibitions.  I consider the TEDx Talk to be the first.  I have another exhibition in the works that may be even bigger, but its far from a sure thing right now, so stay tuned for news on that one if I can pull it off. 

Until then you can enjoy the TEDx Talk that you made possible!

Pindar

Another Cool Video Feature and Schedule for Next Paintings

First off wanted to share this cool feature by America's Greatest Makers.  It includes footage of my kids so its my favorite feature yet. Also like it 'cause it clearly explains a lot about what I am doing in 2 quick minutes.

https://www.americasgreatestmakers.com/video/bitpaintr/

Schedule wise, here is list of people slated for portraits in next two weeks.  I have also contacted you via private email to work out the details. The list is...

Nick, Michelle, Brian, Dave, Chris, and William.

Thanks again, and as always feel free to contact me to expedite your painting.  I am working down the list and bumping priority to anyone that needs something for birthday or special event.

Inside Scoop on Press Coverage

The following is a behind the scenes picture of a CBS piece that will be airing in early December.  Sorry for quality, at least it was not vertical.  It is first time I have gotten national coverage, so I am really excited about it. The reporter is Weijia Jiang.  Mo is holding camera and the the back of the head you see is producer Jane Chick. Off screen is Jess. All awesome people.

Besides this piece, the other 2 video segments will be on Great Day Washington and Daily Planet of the Discovery Channel.  Still no dates as to when any will air, but I will post here as soon as I know.

Crowdsourced Einstein

This crowdsourced portrait of Einstein turned out to be a lot more popular than I was expecting.  Got written up here which resulted in all sorts of attention.  Though I am of course a big fan, I didn't realize that Einstein was such a popular media figure.

Discovery Channel Just Interviewed Me

So the big interview I wasn't going to announce until it actually happened just happened yesterday.

The Daily Planet of Discovery Channel spent the day with me at my Tysons Studio.

Discovery Channel Interview

At the same time a second camera crew was in Toronto filming one of my first patrons using the robot to paint a portrait.  It was an international painting event as we worked back and forth on what I am told will be a five minute segment.  I can not wait to see it and will tell everyone when the air date will be.

So thanks again for everyone's support.  We are almost at 40% of funding with two weeks to go.  If you know anyone that might want to join in this journey, feel free to tell them about this Kickstarter and what a great Christmas Present these paintings would be. I can do the next 30 or so in time before Christmas!

Think word of mouth. I am relying on it.

Cyber Raid on Crowdsourced Portrait?

These are possibly the most interesting painting to date. The video of their creation contains a detailed description of our experience with several recent crowdsourced paintings, vandalism of them, a hack of our robot communications, and an attempt to log into and steal control of our servers.  This attack was actually featured in a TechTimes article that you can find in the press section.

My favorite painting to come out of all these raids asked the profound question...

Is it Art?

Also, here is a graphics dump of one of the painting's stroke queue. Amazing Stuff.

St. Peters at Harper's Ferry

View of St Peter's from the Shenandoah River painted by half a dozen participants on 11/19/2013. Perhaps the most colorful painting to date. Project took two days amid multiple palette and design changes. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this autumnal meditation is the feint but visible silhouette of Sponge Bob Square Pants in the top right hand corner. As this painting was a crowdsourced painting, complete creative license was handed over to anyone who participated. It would seem that one of the participants was a Sponge Bob fan.

Crowdsourced Gandhi

This portrait came together much faster than anticipated. I originally planned to keep it up all week, but after only a day of painting it looked beautiful, so I decided to pull it out of the robot. One of the rare aspects of this painting is that it escaped vandalism.

Child Portrait Beta 87

Crowd sourced painting robot test run Beta 87. Good mix of human and AI contributions. Brush cleaner working much better.

Semi-Finalist in Barbican's Dev-Art Competition

Half way through the video you will notice that sometime in the early afternoon of the second day, things get interesting. This must have been when this project got featured on DevArt - a competition we have put our painting robot into. Multiple users from around the world appear to be battling for control of the brush strokes. Two separate vandals put an "X" on Lincoln's face and an anarchy symbol in the background. Someone says "HI". Another person signs their name multiple times. Near the end, a friend's son signs his name down the side and plays Tic-Tac-Toe on Lincoln's face.

The coolest thing to happen, however, is that most of the people just work on the portrait. Someone even spends a good bit of time attempting to repair the "X" that disfigured Lincoln's face. Watching this painting get crowd-sourced was like watching a battle between order and chaos. At the end of the second day, something in the middle prevailed.

Crowdsourced George Washington

Crowdsourced portrait of George Washington. These paintings are becoming more and more interesting. Three attempts at vandalism occurred on this piece but each time moire strokes were performed that repaired most of it. You can still see writing across the bottom and a dollar sign near his forehead.

Robotic Prints of Bon Iver Album

Recently the Indie Rock Artist/Group Bon Iver reached number 1 on the i-tunes sales charts with their Blood Bank release.  I was contacted by Bon Iver’s record label, Jagjaguwar, to commemorate the achievement with Robotic paintings of their last two album covers.  To be clear, I did not come up with the album art.  My robot merely used the album covers as input to create 2 24″x24″ paintings.  I enjoyed this commission and think that a robot painting of a band’s successful album beats the impersonal platinum record that some record labels award. 

New Painting Robotic Head with Camera and Light

About a month ago, I added real time recording capabilities to my painting robot.  Above is a picture of the newly fabricated robotic head. The protective wood case contains a real time camera.  It takes images of the painting from a birds eye view.  A fluorescent light was also added in a temporary test installation (notice the zip ties).  If the light proves durable, it will become a permanent part of the robotic head.

This improvement adds two capabilities.  The first is that it post real time images of paintings as they are being painted.  This allows patrons who commission portrait and paintings to watch the painting being made.  It also allows me to monitor the painting romotely and check on its progress.  Since paintings take between 12-48 hours to complete, this is a very useful tool.

The second capability that this adds is related to painting quality.  Prior to the camera, my algorithms were painting blind.  Instructions were sent to the robotic head and it painted with no feedback from how well it was executing the painting.  Now my algorithms can monitor how well a painting is being executed and make adjustments as needed.  To put this in persepective, try closing your eyes and drawing.  Now open your eyes and perform the same drawing.  The difference in quality should be obvious. My painting robot is no longer painting with its eyes closed…