You know when you're at the game and you see that crawl on the Jumbotron, featuring text messages from fans that say things such as "GIROUX IZ TEH HOTT" and "I LIKE LAICH"? Or when you're on Twitter and read declarations of faith about a team that disappear into the ether of 10,000 like-minded sentiments?
We bet you've often wondered if there was a way to turn these messages into street art using a 2,200-pound robot attached to an SUV. Wonder no more.
Say hello to The FLYERBOT, which sprayed inspirational messages about the Philadelphia Flyers on the streets prior to their home games at Wells Fargo Center, including before Tuesday night's Game 5 against the New Jersey Devils, who no doubt thought they left copious amounts of graffiti behind in Newark. Fans hashtagged their tweets with #LetsGoFlyers, and 500 were created using this remarkable (and environmentally friendly!) machine.
The Flyers are the first professional sports team to use this 2,200Ib robot attached to an SUV that will use 48 spray guns to create an art installation of twitter messages surrounding the Wells Fargo Center. The messages will be painted in an environmentally-friendly mixture of soy bean protein.
The original "Chalkbot" was created by Greg Baltus of American Roadprinting who was commissioned by LIVESTRONG and the Lance Armstrong Foundation to create a robot that could print messages of encouragement to riders in the Tour de France.
"And almost everything you'll see is eatable, edible. I mean, you can eat almost everything" … even lickable street art, Mr. Wonka?!
Cool stuff from Philly, and an inventive interactive connection with the fans. We haven't seen something this cool from the Flyers hit the ground since Hartnell's last shift.
And should the Flyers fall to the Devils in Game 5, we fully expect FLYERBOT to become self-aware, drive to Brendan Shanahan's house and saturate it in expletives.
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