ViolinBrush: Human-Expressive Mappings for Real-Time Robotic Painting

Richard Savery; Anna Savery; Justin Baird

doi:10.1145/3765766.3765835

ViolinBrush: Human-Expressive Mappings for Real-Time Robotic Painting

Richard Savery
, Anna Savery
, Justin Baird

Centre for Creative & Cultural Research

Research output: A Conference proceeding or a Chapter in Book › Other chapter contribution › peer-review

Abstract

We present ViolinBrush, a real‑time interactive system that transfers the nuanced bowing gestures of a live violinist to the strokes of a robotic painting arm. Unlike previous creative‑robotics projects that treat the machine as an autonomous or pre‑programmed agent, ViolinBrush is conceived as an experiment into whether embodied musical expressiveness can imbue a robot with a perceived humanness. Continuous descriptors of bow pitch and roll are mapped, respectively, to stroke stipple density and jitter, allowing micro-fluctuations in performance energy to visibly texture each mark.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	HAI 2025 - Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction
Editors	Hirotaka Osawa, Helena Lindgren, Aaron Steinfeld, Mary Ellen Foster, Shogo Okada, Haiyi Zhu
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery, Inc
Pages	467-469
Number of pages	3
ISBN (Electronic)	9798400721786
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3765766.3765835
Publication status	Published - 2 Jan 2026
Event	13th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction, HAI 2025 - Yokohama, Japan Duration: 10 Nov 2025 → 13 Nov 2025

Publication series

Name	HAI 2025 - Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction

Conference

Conference	13th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction, HAI 2025
Country/Territory	Japan
City	Yokohama
Period	10/11/25 → 13/11/25

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10.1145/3765766.3765835Licence: CC BY

Cite this

Savery, R., Savery, A., & Baird, J. (2026). ViolinBrush: Human-Expressive Mappings for Real-Time Robotic Painting. In H. Osawa, H. Lindgren, A. Steinfeld, M. E. Foster, S. Okada, & H. Zhu (Eds.), HAI 2025 - Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction (pp. 467-469). (HAI 2025 - Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction). Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. https://doi.org/10.1145/3765766.3765835

Savery, Richard ; Savery, Anna ; Baird, Justin. / ViolinBrush : Human-Expressive Mappings for Real-Time Robotic Painting. HAI 2025 - Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction. editor / Hirotaka Osawa ; Helena Lindgren ; Aaron Steinfeld ; Mary Ellen Foster ; Shogo Okada ; Haiyi Zhu. Association for Computing Machinery, Inc, 2026. pp. 467-469 (HAI 2025 - Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction).

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abstract = "We present ViolinBrush, a real‑time interactive system that transfers the nuanced bowing gestures of a live violinist to the strokes of a robotic painting arm. Unlike previous creative‑robotics projects that treat the machine as an autonomous or pre‑programmed agent, ViolinBrush is conceived as an experiment into whether embodied musical expressiveness can imbue a robot with a perceived humanness. Continuous descriptors of bow pitch and roll are mapped, respectively, to stroke stipple density and jitter, allowing micro-fluctuations in performance energy to visibly texture each mark.",

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language = "English",

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Savery, R, Savery, A & Baird, J 2026, ViolinBrush: Human-Expressive Mappings for Real-Time Robotic Painting. in H Osawa, H Lindgren, A Steinfeld, ME Foster, S Okada & H Zhu (eds), HAI 2025 - Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction. HAI 2025 - Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction, Association for Computing Machinery, Inc, pp. 467-469, 13th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction, HAI 2025, Yokohama, Japan, 10/11/25. https://doi.org/10.1145/3765766.3765835

ViolinBrush: Human-Expressive Mappings for Real-Time Robotic Painting. / Savery, Richard; Savery, Anna; Baird, Justin.
HAI 2025 - Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction. ed. / Hirotaka Osawa; Helena Lindgren; Aaron Steinfeld; Mary Ellen Foster; Shogo Okada; Haiyi Zhu. Association for Computing Machinery, Inc, 2026. p. 467-469 (HAI 2025 - Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction).

Research output: A Conference proceeding or a Chapter in Book › Other chapter contribution › peer-review

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N2 - We present ViolinBrush, a real‑time interactive system that transfers the nuanced bowing gestures of a live violinist to the strokes of a robotic painting arm. Unlike previous creative‑robotics projects that treat the machine as an autonomous or pre‑programmed agent, ViolinBrush is conceived as an experiment into whether embodied musical expressiveness can imbue a robot with a perceived humanness. Continuous descriptors of bow pitch and roll are mapped, respectively, to stroke stipple density and jitter, allowing micro-fluctuations in performance energy to visibly texture each mark.

AB - We present ViolinBrush, a real‑time interactive system that transfers the nuanced bowing gestures of a live violinist to the strokes of a robotic painting arm. Unlike previous creative‑robotics projects that treat the machine as an autonomous or pre‑programmed agent, ViolinBrush is conceived as an experiment into whether embodied musical expressiveness can imbue a robot with a perceived humanness. Continuous descriptors of bow pitch and roll are mapped, respectively, to stroke stipple density and jitter, allowing micro-fluctuations in performance energy to visibly texture each mark.

KW - embodied interaction

KW - generative art

KW - multimodal interaction

KW - robot paintiny

KW - robotic art

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UR - https://hai-conference.net/hai2025/

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BT - HAI 2025 - Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction

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Savery R, Savery A, Baird J. ViolinBrush: Human-Expressive Mappings for Real-Time Robotic Painting. In Osawa H, Lindgren H, Steinfeld A, Foster ME, Okada S, Zhu H, editors, HAI 2025 - Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction. Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. 2026. p. 467-469. (HAI 2025 - Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction). doi: 10.1145/3765766.3765835

ViolinBrush: Human-Expressive Mappings for Real-Time Robotic Painting

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