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'Drawbot' Robot Whips Up Masterpieces, Puts More Art School Grads Out Of Work

by Amar Toor on June 8, 2010 at 10:55 AM

abraham lincoln by drawbotAs if the lives of starving artists weren't hard enough, the Monets and Manets of tomorrow may now face competition from an entirely new field of sober, non-tortured prodigies: robots. With the help of an Arduino processor, the Drawbot uses a steppe motor-powered stylus to sketch out a series of patterns on a piece of paper. Eventually, its random doodles coalesce to form a unique picture, although, according to Ubergizmo, it takes a few weeks of non-stop operation to produce a finished product.

As creator Harvey Moon explains, the device is essentially comprised of two parts: one that controls the pen and another that interprets the image being drawn. Although some may bristle at the thought of robo-Rembrandts taking over a field so intrinsically human, Moon argues that, in this case, "the machine is the artist, abiding to a specific set of rules as it decides how to draw." [Ed. Note: We did an overview of some amazing drawing machines in our Tech Art History roundup!] Once the Drawbot gets its first taste of commercial success, we're sure it'll be out there stabbing its parents and selling its own gold-plated feces -- just like all the greats. [From: Unanything, via: Ubergizmo and Hack a Day]

Tags: arduino, art, art history, ArtHistory, drawbot, drawing, drawings, machines, robot, robots, sketching, top

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