Firefly Eindhoven - Introduction

The combination of art and technology, and in particular robotics, will have a tremendous potential and market value in the near future. While robots are widespread in industrial setting, they are not yet fully accessible to the general public, creating some distance, perhaps driven by fear of the unknown. For example, drones have often a negative connotation due to its use in military contexts. However, the widespread of robotics has also created a large interest and curiosity in the general public. It is therefore important to ease people into technology and robotics, by highlighting its benefits to society. In this context, robot, and in particular drone, shows can play an important role.

Drone shows have become popular after Intel’s 2015 show with 100 drones. More recently, Intel has performed many other shows, e.g. for Disney and at the super bowl 2017, and other large scale shows have taken place such as the Guinness world record show with 1000 drones at the Latern Festival in Guangzhou. According to Intel’s CEO, drones will replace fireworks in the future. In general, the combination of art and technology is a very recent trend, which is gaining much interest. Many research groups around the word are also attracting much attention by having robots, and in particular drones, perform stunts in events (e.g., TED talks). Often, is it the cutting edge technological advancements that attract the audience’s attention.

These amazing show do not by any means undermine the interest of watching live drone shows in small and medium size events. On the one hand, the proximity of people to the robots, rather than watching a video online, is fundamental to enjoy the show. On the other hand, with art and technology it is always possible to innovate, to create the ‘wow effect’ and entertain people, even with a small number of robots/drones.

The current team vision is to create shows which can be appreciated by people in the Brabant region. The team has performed its first show in the TMC event in Eindhoven, and event open for technology enthusiasts. The team won the best project award in this event. The next planned even is the Robot Love event in Eindhoven and there is also the possibility to have a show in the major event GLOW 2018 in Eindhoven. The team has also been invited to other technology fairs, and is likely to participate in more events in the near future. Within the same scope the team is working towards an app by which everyone can design their own show, combining music, light and drone movement. The team plans to set up a contest at TU/Eindhoven; the the most creative concept will then be implemented and shown at TU/e promotional events.

Our mission is to ease the general public into drone technology by having them experience nice and unique moments.