MAKE creates a drawbot that doesn't get angry

Last time we saw a drawbot, it drew a happy face and then got angry. This new drawbot, shown in a MAKE video, is the latest from our friends who created one of the most popular mooks in the US. The idea behind their bot is to have it scan an image and then reproduce that photo by drawing it -- for now, they've gotten the robot to illustrate a star, but they're working on getting it to reproduce human faces. Still an impressive piece of machinery, but we'll wait around for the version that you can set up at a bar mitzvah to draw big-headed children engaged in their favorite activities.

[Mike @ Sep 18th 2006 6:03PM]

Can it copy notes for school work?

[Gordon Merritt @ Sep 18th 2006 6:59PM]

Copy machines. What wonderful technology. And only 10 cents a copy! What is the point of this?

[AUA @ Sep 18th 2006 6:49PM]

Wow. They built a plotter and called it a "drawbot." Incredible.

[Alex @ Sep 18th 2006 6:55PM]

I, for one, welcome our star-drawing...

beh, nevermind

[Kevlar @ Sep 18th 2006 7:02PM]

I remember looking at a gallery of Lego Mindstorms robots when it was first released, and seeing something very similar to this. It had two paper trays, one where you put the image to be copied, another where you put a blank piece of paper. The machine would move the light sensor over the original, and make a mark using a marker on the blank page, whenever a darkness threshold was reached. Sure, it made low resolution copies, but it was quite impressive for a lego robot.

[CharlieX @ Sep 18th 2006 7:26PM]

You know when the Robots Rise Against Humanity - this little guy is going to become cannon fodder.

[Artr @ Sep 18th 2006 9:38PM]

That reminds me of that scene in I-Robot

[tom @ Sep 18th 2006 10:50PM]

I agree with some of the others, what is the point of this, when we have photo copiers. Maybe the general tachnology could be used for something, but not this way! But after watching the vid, you know theyre just doin it for fun anyway.

[Tob3z @ Sep 19th 2006 1:42PM]

Hold on... wait....

Scanner and a printer?