The Pumapaint Project: Long Term Usage Trends And The Move To Three Dimensions

Online since the summer of 1998, the PumaPaint project can be considered an elder statesman of networked robotics. Although never a profound technical achievement to attach a PUMA robot to a network, the extended period of operation permits interesting observations of long-term usage trends, comparison of operation through several generations of user interface and a voluminous body of artwork to consider. This paper will present a discussion of long-term usage trends of the PumaPaint project over six years of operation at two locations. We will present a study of the most interesting artwork produced in the last two years and discuss trends from the perspective of the canvas. We will also present a case study of a recent phenomenon: the appearance of a dedicated and persistent vandal who returned to the site nightly for a period of several months. The second section of the paper will detail our current project: moving the PumaPaint concept to three dimensions. We are continuing the theme of artistic creation, this time allowing web users to model clay. We have partially completed construction on a pair of opposing anthropomorphic hands with force sensing capability and expect to have these operational by spring 2005. This paper will present the “RoboSculpt” concept; detail the design and proposed user interface and present the progress to date.