Over the course of six weeks, I used my custom-created robot, Manibus, in collaboration with Ballet Des Moines dancers as they prepared for the upcoming Spring performance of "Snow White." During this time, I refined the process of using the robot as an artistic tool. Together, we created over 50 exploratory paintings.

Manibus is Latin for "of the hand" or "from the hand" in reference to its intended purpose to extend the painting process using new tools. It does not serve as an artist replacement, but rather makes a typically solitary process of painting into a collaborative one resulting in a trio of sorts. The participant wears a cell phone on their wrist that detects their movement and sends a signal via Bluetooth to guide and direct the robot in its painting path across the surface to paint. At the same time, this process is not fully automated. As the artist, I must respond and react to the moving robot to initiate its starts and stops and color changes.