Who is competing in an art contest for $100,000 in prizes?

The second annual RobotArt competition is currently underway with the goal of challenging entrants “to produce something visually creative with robotics — that is, to have a robot use physical brushes and paint to create an artwork.” The competition is open to teams from all over the world, many from universities, and at stake is $100,000 in prizes and awards.

Some of the artist robots collaborate with humans, while others are completely autonomous. This year’s entries include the Manibus Team, which used a bot to render the movements of ballet dancers with paint on paper, and the completely autonomous CloudPainter, which uses deep learning and artificial intelligence to paint whatever it wants.

One of RobotArt’s aims is to inspire more students to consider studying STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) disciplines as a means to a creative career. 

Winners are determined by public voting via Facebook, as well as by a panel of judges. The competition runs through May 15.