Sonic
2012
Paint cannons and a robot arm in the trunk of a Chevy Sonic.
Concept
In 2012, Chevy launched a campaign, Let’s Do This (Goodby, Silverstein & Partners), in which a Chevy Sonic embarked upon a series of adventures, including sky diving and bungee jumping.
Our team at Bot & Dolly got involved for a spot that paired the Sonic with graffiti artist Jeff Soto. Soto and the Sonic were tasked with making a “Street Art Documentary.”
Our job was to kit out a Sonic with the tools Soto would use to realize his mural: paint cannons, sprayers, and precision robotic control.
Technology
On this project I worked primarily on software for an industrial robot arm installed in the trunk. With the hatchback popped, Soto could back the car up to the wall, unfold the arm, and send commands from his iPad to spray-paint vector art.
The technical challenge in this dimension of the project was ensuring that we could generate valid trajectories for all the vector art files at all scales—that the orientation of the spray can to the wall, its speed, and the digital control of the spray can’s trigger were correct—no matter how the car was oriented to the wall.
Talented teammates and freelancers managed other elements of the project including a pneumatic paint cannon, paint sprayer, and modifications to the car’s suspension.
Result
Final edit, mini-doc format.
The robot emerges from the trunk, with previs.
Soto’s mural.
Process
Behind the Scenes.
Vector art test run.
The messy work of early paint tests.
Working on set, breathing paint fumes.