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Image: MIT Media Lab
Since the dawn of man, drawings have been put forth on a multitude of mediums. Cave, canvas, and computer. Much of these works derive from the movement of the human hand, but researchers at MIT’s Media Lab have developed a method for connecting man and machine in an effort to create unified art.
The method involves a drone acting as a flying pantograph. The human sketches out a drawing with a pen, and OptiTrack captures the motion telling the drone to mimic the movements and copy the drawing.
The flying pantograph transforms the human’s movement into a large-scale piece. Think of the drone as a mechanical extension of the human artist, drawing on a remote canvas out of the human’s reach. Though traditional pantographs are identical to their originals, the flying pantograph faces some challenges: drone movement and air resistance. Combining both of these factors results in an altered rendition of the human’s work.
To combat these shortcomings, MIT researchers have advanced their drone with a second iteration. Sang Leigh, a researcher, says that the first drone was less stable giving the drawings a more squiggly look. Their second, however, is more fluid.
Sang Leigh, WIRED
“Now we have better control capacity so that we can fairly easily draw straight lines.” He adds, “there is huge room for engineering, to be fair.”
The future Picasso is both man and machine.
Source: MIT
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