Assistant Professors of Architecture and Outpost Office founders Ashley Bigham and Erik Herrmann have been featured in The Lantern for their use of GPS-guided robots in executing large-scale painting projects. Bigham and Herrmann were interviewed for their 2023 installation at the Wexner Center for the Arts, “Drawing Fields No. 7.” 

"What's exciting about the work we're doing is that we're at the intersection of art and technology," Herrmann said. "We want to encourage those overlaps."

The robot – dubbed “Squirtle” due to its turtle-like appearance – comes from the Denmark-based company Turf Tank, where the robots are often designed to paint boundary lines on sports fields.

Wanting to stray away from soccer pitches and football fields, Herrmann and Bigham discovered what other functions the robot could serve. 

“Most of our reserch is expanding the repertoire of what [the robot] can do,” Herrmann said. “That's sure been an exciting process.”

Though the duo's work does include typical architectural projects like pavilions and housing proposals, Herrmann said a large portion of what Outpost Office does can be found on Ohio State's campus – often right under students' feet.

Read more at The Lantern