I/O Brush: The World as the Palette

Kimiko Ryokai, Stefan Marti, Hiroshi Ishii
Josh Monzon & Rob Figueiredo© 2003-2005 MIT Media Lab

I/O Brush is a new drawing tool to explore colors, textures, and movements found in everyday materials by "picking up" and drawing with them. I/O Brush looks like a regular physical paintbrush but has a small video camera with lights and touch sensors embedded inside. Outside of the drawing canvas, the brush can pick up color, texture, and movement of a brushed surface. On the canvas, artists can draw with the special "ink" they just picked up from their immediate environment.

See the amazing video here

and read the article here