Whatever your political opinions, we can all agree that it’s nice to see the boundaries of drone technology being explored. In this case, that exploration was done by graffiti artist KATSU, who has a bit of history when it comes to drone vandalism. This time his target was new US President, and he built his own anti-Trump drone to let people know exactly how he feels.
Above is an image of what graffiti artist KATSU was able to create with a pre-programmed drone and a can of spray paint. Below is the drone in action. Speaking to Motherboard, KATSU was asked how difficult it was to put this bespoke drone together. “Not as difficult as stomaching Trump as the president of the United States,” was his response.
It’s not the first time we’ve seen the artistic side of drone technology. We’ve featured a story before about a drone under development at McGill University, Montreal, capable of recreating images dot by dot (Is This the Start of the Drone Art Industry?). We’ve also seen the rise in aerial light shows, a technology pioneered by the good folks at Intel, who have twice broken the record for the number of autonomous drones in the sky in sync.
That record now stands at 500, as the video below shows:
It’s clear that there’s a future for drones in the creative process. But the world of graffiti still represents a few challenges that need to be overcome – Dexterity being one of them. For a few more drone art projects, take a look at this video from Jesper Vestergaard, who also happens to curate a blog dedicated to Drone Graffiti.
But back to our lovable drone vandal / creative genius KATSU. As we mentioned above, he’s got previous. Back in 2015 he committed what must be the first act of drone vandalism on record, when he took it upon himself to paint across the face of national treasure Kendall Jenner with a custom drone, Icarus 1 (the details of which he’s since made available for anyone that wants to create their own). So what do you think of the anti-trump drone? A step too far or a natural progression for a graffiti industry on the rise?
Malek Murison is a freelance writer and editor with a passion for tech trends and innovation. He handles product reviews, major releases and keeps an eye on the enthusiast market for DroneLife.
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