robo signans is the third Platform Project by Emergence Delft, an Art & Tech dream team of TU Delft. At Emergence, students from engineering and art backgrounds collaborate to create new media artworks that inspire reflection on complex technologies.
In robo signans, ten TU Delft students and artist Jorrit Paaijmans explore a radical question: What if a robot no longer serves humans? What happens when a machine—typically built for function—is instead allowed to simply be?
The result is a kinetic installation featuring three 2-meter-tall robotic entities. These robots neither assist nor entertain. Instead, they draw independently and in dialogue, through a process of visual interpretation. The outcome is a slow, evolving conversation in graphite—a symbolic act that mirroring human creativity, authorship, and communication. In an era of escalating crises, robo signans challenges the notion that everything must have a purpose or be productive.
