Artists' Views on Robotics Involvement in Painting Productions

2025-10-08

AI Summary

This study investigates the experiential dynamics and interaction mechanisms underlying collaborative art-making between professional abstract artists and autonomous painting robotic arms. Method: Employing a longitudinal qualitative design, it conducted six iterative painting sessions complemented by semi-structured interviews and reflexive thematic analysis to systematically examine long-term human–machine co-creation in authentic artistic practice. Contribution/Results: Moving beyond technology-centric paradigms, the research foregrounds the dynamic tension between artistic agency and machine autonomy. It identifies three salient interactional features—playfulness, meta-reflexivity, and constraint-driven strategic innovation—that distinguish human–robot collaboration from human–human cooperation. Findings reveal novel creative pathways emergent from sustained interdisciplinary interaction, underscoring both theoretical implications for redefining authorship and practice-oriented value in expanding the boundaries of contemporary art-making.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Human-Robot Interaction
• Humans and AI: Interaction Techniques and Devices
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Computational Creativity

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Research challenges in human and human-AI computation
• Semantics and Knowledge: Data modeling to support human-machine intelligence, including LLMs agents, intelligent system behavior, explanations, and user-friendly interactions

Abstract

As robotic technologies evolve, their potential in artistic creation becomes an increasingly relevant topic of inquiry. This study explores how professional abstract artists perceive and experience co-creative interactions with an autonomous painting robotic arm. Eight artists engaged in six painting sessions -- three with a human partner, followed by three with the robot -- and subsequently participated in semi-structured interviews analyzed through reflexive thematic analysis. Human-human interactions were described as intuitive, dialogic, and emotionally engaging, whereas human-robot sessions felt more playful and reflective, offering greater autonomy and prompting for novel strategies to overcome the system's limitations. This work offers one of the first empirical investigations into artists' lived experiences with a robot, highlighting the value of long-term engagement and a multidisciplinary approach to human-robot co-creation.

Problem

• Exploring artists' perceptions of robotic co-creation in painting
• Comparing human-human versus human-robot collaborative art interactions
• Investigating strategies to overcome robotic system limitations creatively

Innovation

• Used autonomous painting robotic arm for co-creation
• Conducted six painting sessions with artists
• Applied reflexive thematic analysis to interviews