- ABB robot creates AI-designed mural live at City=Gallery Street Art Festival.
- Public online vote determines robot artist’s style and themes.
- Partnership between ABB, Škoda Auto, City=Gallery and PPG.
ABB, a company best known for making automotive assembly equipment and EV chargers, combined robotics with artificial intelligence to create artwork for the City=Gallery Street Art Festival in Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic (home to Škoda’s main plant) this month.
The City=Gallery Street Art Festival is an annual urban art event aimed at turning the city into an open gallery, featuring large-scale murals and interactive workshops.
Collaborating with the Škoda Auto Endowment Fund, Škoda Auto, PPG, and the festival organisers, ABB’s painting machine (IRB 5500) created a large-scale mural designed entirely by AI, using ideas submitted by the public.
Typically used for both interior and exterior automotive painting, the IRB 5500 also has the capability for other paint applications.
Joerg Reger, managing director of ABB Robotics Automotive Business Line, says: “We are thrilled to take robotics out of the factory and into the heart of the community.
“We’re not only demonstrating precision engineering – we’re showcasing how technology can respond to people’s creative ideas and bring them to life in a way that’s interactive and inspiring.”
The public helped shape the mural’s style, design, mood, and themes through an online vote. Škoda Design then translated the results so that the AI tools could generate a final piece.
The ABB robot was equipped with PixelPaint technology, using 1000 individually controlled nozzles similar to an inkjet printer. It was able to precisely paint the design on the wall of the Pastelka Art School.
Originally developed for the automotive industry, PixelPaint can apply technical and intricate patterns in a single pass without masking. This makes it ideal for transforming the AI-generated image into a large-scale mural.
PPG (a global company that specialises in paints, coatings, and specialty materials) adapted its coating system for the mural to meet the specific demands of street art. By using a fast-drying primer and a durable topcoat, the artwork is protected against UV rays and varying environment conditions.
