This project is a result of a combination of two themes. The first one is brush-making, second calligraphy. The inspiration for our work was calligraffiti - large scale lettering made by artists using broad brushes. The main reference in designing the tool was an interview with an active professional craftsman - brush-maker R. Baryliński. Detailed information on the techniques of production and types of brushes allowed us to fit the characteristics of the tools to the needs of the project.
The work started from manual programming - setting points of the trajectory of a robot. To get the effect of a perfect calligraphy we designed our font based on Humanist Minuscule, which has been transferred into a robot program. To design a tool that reflects the traditional nib, we added a metal plate to the brush. Striving to create perfect letters we had to solve the issue of regular distribution of paint.
An interesting side effect was initially uncontrolled rotation of the 6th axis of a robot. As a result, we created two types of letters. The first one is perfect, made in regard to the principles of traditional calligraphy - including a still set of the nib during the entire movement. The second one is a different, 'robotic calligraphy' that includes a movement impossible for a man - a precise 360 degrees rotation of the tool when writing.
As the project was presented live during several events it was scaled for a smaller robot.
team: Barbara Drozdek, Sara Bos, Taras Pastushchuk
project presented at: Noc z Designem School of Form 2016 // Cubetura Festival 2016 // Fresh Design 2016 // Lodz Design Festival 2016
