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Hektor: the Graffiti Robot

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the kids-these-days dept.

Lopex writes "Gizmodo has a story about Hektor, a graffiti robot. Apparently it is for the extremely geeky (or perhaps extremely lazy) tagger. Hektor.ch has photos, information (pdf), and a movie (15 Mb) of it in action."

3 of 222 comments (clear)

  1. OK, that's pretty damn cool... by ackthpt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Simple, elegant and with the right planning and execution some pretty decent murals could be done. I think there's a real market for it, even for commercial advertising. Give something like this more colors and even graphitti artists will begin to wonder why they put up with the freezing cold, cops, etc. when they could just hook up one of these and lurk in the shadows until it's done. No more lugging around twenty cans of spraypaint.

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    1. Re:OK, that's pretty damn cool... by ackthpt · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Right, now they just have to lug around twenty cans of spraypaint, one hundred feet of rope, a level, a ladder, something to attach the rope to the side of the building with, a laptop, data cable, and a robot.

      While you were typing this cynical view, I was considering what I'd have to do to pull off something. What modifications/enhancements I'd need to go 4 color, how to get away from paint cans. A bit of engineering and a decent exercise, but I think it could be done. Honestly, it's already been done, but not portably, afaik, for a small unit. I'm just curious how much propellant would be needed to spray like an airbrush. If CO2 could be used, how much would be needed, how to keep it from freezing up, etc.

      More practical applications keep occuring to me as I think about it. Why not make these or lease them out to do painting in difficult or hazardous locations (i.e. underside of bridges.) Looking for a new way to make a living? Seems like opportunity for some bright minds to pool and do this commercially.

      After the last time I put up with the aggrevation of using a Wagner Powerpainter to stain the side of a house, this seems like a dream come true. Just screw in a couple hooks and set something like this up to do most of the work.

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  2. Billboard Appliations? by danaan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This just makes me wonder why similar technology hasn't been used for the giant advertisements that cover the entire side of buildings. From what I've seen, these are all done by living human artists, who do a remarkable job in most cases. But it would seem very realistic, and I'd think cheaper to use some kind of robotic painter that could replicate art on anything. Have I just missed the news, or is it Clear Channel holding back the progress of technology?