Polish Artists Teach AI Robot Dog Painting Skills

Annieszka Pilat, a robotic "whisperer" artist, (photo: screenshot of dailymail)

JAKARTA - Annieszka Pilat, a robotic "whisperer" artist, has used her artistic skills to train a new generation of AI-powered robotic dogs.

The pilat, which originated in Poland, spent months teaching three four-leg machines developed by Boston Dynamics to hold the brush on their "mouth" and move it on a large canvas, turning the paint into an abstract form.

Pilat recently opened a new exhibition entitled 'Hetrobo' featuring 36 autonomous paintings resembling human artwork.

Robots create artwork inspired by Jean-Michel Basquiat art styles and Cy Twombly ink-based paintings - and some of them have sold up to 40,000 US dollars in auctions.

Pilat is an in-residence artist for SpaceX and works with an industry design team to create paintings focused on the company's mission to promote space exploration. SpaceX doesn't have an official in-residence artist program, but Pilat says he wants to work with the company to 'give voice to technology.'

"I need time to convince, find the right relationship, and present a vision that is in line with space exploration missions," he told Business Insider.

Pilat menjual salah satu pemato robodog kustom pada 2022 seharga 40.000 dolar AS (Rp620,1 juta) dalam lelang amal untuk dog Ukraina. Dan satu lainnya di Sotheby's pada 2021 seharga 31,500 dolar AS (Rp488,3 juta).

Three robots named Basia, Omuzana 'Vanya,' and Bunny started their four-month residential at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in Melbourne, Australia last month. The exhibition will last until April 7.

The NGV exhibition room has a QR-coded cube that tells the robot dogs where they are in the room when they paint. And there is also a special place in the museum for three robotic dogs to'sleep' and charge.

"Regarding their work sequence and messaging content, it's all generated by machines, and I don't control or supervise it," Pilat told Business Insider.

Although Pilat works with robots every day, he told The Guardian he still doesn't fully understand it, so he teamed up with Boston Dynamics engineers to shape the personality of robotic dogs.

Together, Pilats and engineers use artificial intelligence, software, and machine learning to train robots, even using Basia as a substitute pet, often taking her for walks around New York.

"Basia is a'serious'," Pilat told The Guardian, adding that the robot dog would paint about one canvas every three days, while Vanya was a'mother of the group' and walked around the studio.

Meanwhile, Bunny's arrogance often wins, and she constantly poses in front of walls designed for selfies.

Pilat said he always wanted to work with artificial intelligence to create a new genre of artwork, which he hopes will be viewed in the next few years through the same lens as historians see cave images.

"I like to think that this painting may be an ancient scroll or pictures of a cave," Pilat told Business Insider. "Maybe we are witnessing the birth of a new civilization and, with that, a new language; maybe the first attempt to communicate."

Pilat took four months to work with robot dogs, but he previously said the mechanical Picasso robot was not meant to replace the creator of humans.

That's because their artwork is more like kindergarten children learning to draw, adding that there is 'a sense of spontaneity and pleasure in the paintings,' he said.

Regarding his experience with robotic dogs, Pilat said on its website: "Working in direct contact with robots gives the impression of meeting with other thoughts; it looks like robots have an agency."

"This experience contradicts expectations about machines operating reliably and predictablely," he said. "When a robot fails in a task over and over again, a human observer may even feel the need for empathy. It was my experience with Digit and Spot. With the paradox, they have taught me about humanity."

Growing up in Germany, Poland, Pilat said listening to Radio Free Europe with a group of adults in a locked room gave him a unique award for technology that others might not have.

"Technology gives us hope, for my parents," Pilat told The Guardian. "I really feel technology is always there for me. And now there is a lot of uncertainty towards technology, I feel a debt of gratitude to my old friends."