Disney Research has developed BeachBot, a small sand runner bot that draws big art on the beach.
The art canvas area is defined by four navigation poles in the sand. BeachBot then moves around on balloon tires which don’t leave tracks in the sand. To draw, BeachBot lowers a rake to etch its designs. Each pin on the rake can be individually controlled.
BeachBot, developed jointly by Disney Research and a student team at ETH Zürich, can draw autonomously from preprogrammed designs or “freehand” by remote control.