High-tech beds are outfitted with sensors to turn sleep patterns into unique works of art.
Last year, the Ibis hotel in Paris kicked off a unique project in collaboration with Swedish production company ACNE, the BETC ad agency in Paris, and ABB France’s Robotics division. Ibis launched the Sleep Art Project as part of an initiative that focused on the importance of sleep, something typically desired by those who frequent inns around the world.
As part of the Sleep Art Project, Ibis equipped beds in its hotels in Paris, Berlin, and London with sensors that collected data during a guest’s overnight visit. The data fed real-time information into a digital algorithm and, using software produced by ACNE and an interface developed by ABB, a small robot converted the data into a visual interpretation of the energy and motion of sleep. Essentially, the robot painted sleep patterns. The work of art was more than a few flimsy lines created in Paint. The high precision robot created an actual painting on canvas using traditional paintbrushes and acrylic paints. Oddly enough, the guests only received digital prints. The Accor Group, which owns the Ibis chain, kept all of the canvases.
How Does It Work?
The mattresses were outfitted with 80 sensors that collected temperature, pressure (movement), and sound data throughout the night. The data was transferred to ACNE’s Dreambox, a hardware and software technology developed specifically for the project, which collected the raw data and published the information to the internet. The Dreambox processed the data through an algorithm and sent it to a robot in another room, ABB’s smallest robot, the IRB 120. The robot computed the path in relation to the data received and executed artistic paint strokes.
According to Guillaume Pradels, technical support for the ABB Discrete Automation and Motion Robotics division in France, it took ACNE six months to develop the Dreambox and ABB spent 40 hours programming the robot, but the collaborator’s greatest challenge was making the end result “look nice.”
“The paint was the challenge, getting a result that looks nice was [difficult] from the beginning,” Pradels says. The team spent an additional three weeks testing the robot. “Adjusting the paint mix, the brush size, the canvas types, we worked together and tried it over and over again.”
The Painter
The IRB 120 is a small, multipurpose, six-axis industrial robot that weighs 25 kg and is capable of handling a 3 kg payload, a little more than a few nylon bristles. ABB’s light, aluminum little bot has a 580-mm horizontal reach and is typically used in a range of industries extending far beyond the bed and breakfast, including the electronics, food and beverage, machinery, solar, medical, and research sectors. It is also capable of reaching 112 mm below its base, a best-in-class stroke according to ABB.
After processing the sensor data, the IRB 120 selected colors from several paint pots and executed its work on the canvas, creating a one-of-a-kind rendering that, according to ABB, “no human is capable of.” The bot’s compact turning radius is enabled by its symmetric architecture. This allows the robot to be mounted close to other equipment, or paint cans, and its slim wrist enables the arm to reach closer to its application (or canvas).
While the robot was sequestered to a separate room, the Sleep Art project remains one of the latest examples of how advanced robotics is transcending its traditional application in automated manufacturing and emerging into more visible roles in the consumer marketing and entertainment spaces. According to the company, robotics technologies and automation platforms are finding non-traditional uses with increasing frequency. The uptick in new, and seemingly oddball applications, further proves robotics’ ability to expand its range of services to a growing number of businesses.
Is It Art?
When ad agency BETC first approached ACNE with the sleep-centered art project, ACNE’s R&D division had already begun experimenting with machines capable of creating art. ACNE had worked with a Japanese design magazine to create a cover using a computer that interpreted a hand sketch. Based on the success of this project, ACNE became interested in working with robots painting with real paint.
Initially, it was a challenge for the company to find a high-precision robot, but once a deal was struck with ABB, ACNE worked on perfecting the painting technique.
“The precision of the robot was never in doubt, but the behavior of paints and paintbrushes is much harder to predict,” says ACNE creative director, Markus Ward, in an interview with Creativity Online. “We ended up spending most of our time mixing different colors and testing out different paintbrushes.”
According to Ward, the Sleep Art Project remains an “artistic experiment,” but the ideas behind it will lead to more applications interpreting real-time brain data to create personalized content. “People are discovering more about themselves through technology,” Ward says. “The exciting part is getting computers to do things we can’t do by hand, and making it more personal.”
