Spaxels

  • Swarm Arena @Miraikan

    Swarm Arena @Miraikan

    In the beginning, there was a shared research interest: How can swarm-based technology be embedded in everyday media use and what new possibilities of communication or artistic expression does it offer as a visual medium? The Japanese telecommunications company NTT and the Ars Electronica Futurelab have been investigating these questions since 2017 and have repeatedly…

  • swarmOS

    swarmOS

    swarmOS is a powerful operating system to control large-scale swarms of UAVs (flying drones) as well as UGVs (drones that drive on the ground), invented and constantly expanded by the Ars Electronica Futurelab.

  • Swarm Compass

    Swarm Compass

    Japanese telecommunications giant NTT and the Ars Electronica Futurelab have been working together since 2017 on how to use drones—aka unmanned aerial vehicles—as a means of communication. The Sky Compass project laid the groundwork in 2017; now, Swarm Compass takes this initiative to the next level.

  • Sky Compass

    Sky Compass

    A collaboration between Japanese telecommunications giant NTT and the Ars Electronica Futurelab, Sky Compass is the first step towards a vision of employing drones (or UAVs, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) in public signage, guidance and the facilitation of traffic.

  • Drone100: Spaxels over Linz

    Drone100: Spaxels over Linz

    Partnering with Intel ™ on the Drone 100 project paid off tremendously for the Spaxels crew in terms of technical impetus and media coverage. Following this momentous achievement and with the next Ars Electronica Festival coming up, it was high time to demonstrate just how far this undertaking had come at the very spot where…

  • Shared Space Spaxels

    Shared Space Spaxels

    Since 2013, the Ars Electronica Futurelab and Mercedes-Benz have been facing one of the most challenging issues raised by autonomous mobility: How can we humans communicate with self-driving cars in ways that make us feel comfortable and safe?

  • Spaxels

    Spaxels

    Drone shows and swarm art performances

    In September 2012, a new medium for physical-visual expression was born along the banks of the river Danube in Linz: The world’s first large-scale outdoor formation drone flight illuminated the night sky as part and centerpiece of the open-air music festival Klangwolke.

  • Spaxels / Klangwolke – Quadrocopter

    Spaxels / Klangwolke – Quadrocopter

    Ars Electronica Futurelab’s quadcopter swarm was one of the highlights of the 2012 voestalpine Klangwolke (Cloud of Sound) in Linz. More than 90,000 spectators lined both banks of the Danube to witness a then world record: a formation flight by no fewer than 49 quadcopters. Never before had such a large squadron of whirlybird drones…