Florian Ortkrass and Stuart Wood / RCA Design Products
pixelroller: a paint roller that paints pixels
The PixelRoller is a novel technological innovation: a paint roller that ‘paints’ digital images onto a range of physical surfaces. A year of development has resulted in a more robust and usable product with refined technology.
One great challenge seldom met by technology products is to achieve an archetypal form that indicates at a glance how they are to be used. Too often, they end up looking novel, inscrutable – and daunting. The PixelRoller’s form indicates precisely how it should be used, enabling digital images to be painted onto a vast range of substrates such as walls, floors or even grass. PixelRoller made its debut in spring 2005 as a joint Masters project between RCA designers Florian Ortkrass and Stuart Wood. Since then, with a development grant from the Audi Design Foundation, they have been able to refine the technology and construct a superior prototype.
Paint from spray cans is fed to the roller where solenoids control emission, allowing a pixellated image to be ‘painted’ using the familiar roller action. A computer linked to the roller contains data for the image and governs the paint supply. It also calibrates the position and orientation of the roller so that the image remains in register. The PixelRoller can create all kinds of mural messages from emergency signage and exhibition graphics to transport liveries and advertising hoardings. What may be a high-tech toy for a young public artist might equally be used by a retired couple redecorating their home with roll-on patterned ‘wallpaper’. PixelRoller’s inventors are keen to exploit its versatility by offering a service to companies or cultural institutions that want to make a splash.
