ABB brings AI-designed street art to life
ABB has combined advanced robotics and artificial intelligence to create a one-of-a-kind artwork for the City=Gallery Street Art Festival in Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic, home to Škoda’s main plant. Working in collaboration with the Škoda Auto Endowment Fund, Škoda Auto, PPG and the festival organizers, ABB’s IRB 5500 painted a large-scale mural designed entirely by AI, based on ideas submitted by the public.
“We are thrilled to take robotics out of the factory and into the heart of the community,” said Joerg Reger, Managing Director of ABB Robotics Automotive Business Line. “We’re not only demonstrating precision engineering – we’re showcasing how technology can respond to people’s creative ideas and bring them to life in a way that’s interactive and inspiring.”
Through an online vote, the public helped define the mural’s style, mood and themes, which Škoda Design translated into the inputs guiding the AI tools to generate the final artwork. An ABB robot equipped with the award-winning PixelPaint technology – which uses 1,000 individually-controlled nozzles similar to an inkjet printer – then brought that design to life with complete precision on the wall of the Pastelka Art School.
“As an international company, Škoda Auto knows that innovation and sustainability are only possible with strong local roots. Through the Škoda Auto Endowment Fund, we have long supported public space, education and innovation in the Mladá Boleslav region. The robotic artist project is a perfect example of this – bringing together art, new technologies and community participation in a way that makes those values visible on the walls of our city. It shows how strengthening local communities also strengthens the company. That’s why we act locally to remain strong internationally, and why we are proud to co-organize the City=Gallery festival for the fourth time,” said Endowment Fund director Ladislav Kučera.
Originally developed for the automotive industry, PixelPaint’s ability to apply intricate patterns in a single pass without masking make it uniquely suited to transforming the AI-generated image into a large-scale mural.
PPG provided an advanced waterborne basecoat specially formulated for ABB’s PixelPaint to ensure reliable performance and precision. For the mural, PPG’s coating system was adapted to the unique demands of street art, featuring a fast-drying primer and a topcoat that provides UV protection and weather resistance.
The live robot painting, held on September 4 and 5, was one of the festival’s headline attractions. The ground-breaking collaboration between ABB, Škoda Auto Endowment Fund, Škoda Auto, City=Gallery festival and PPG marked the first time a robot artist had been showcased at the event.
The City=Gallery festival follows a long tradition of transforming public spaces into open-air galleries, a practice that resonates across cities worldwide. This year’s edition in Mladá Boleslav added a new dimension, uniting art, technology and community in a live collaboration that showed how people and machines can create together, while also connecting local voices to a broader cultural movement.
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