Drawing drone mimics your sketches

Ever wondered what a drone would draw if it had an artistic side? MIT is happy to show you. It recently developed a Flying Pantograph drone that, as the name suggests, translates whatever you draw on a table to its own drawings on a vertical canvas. It's not a faithful mirror of your art, as the drone bobs and weaves while it tries to catch up with your vision. However, the researchers say the shaky result is on purpose -- think of it as the robot adding its own flair to a collaborative work.

Right now, the Flying Pantograph exists largely as a cool "what if" exploration of the interactions between humans and machines. However, the implications for practical uses are big, in more ways than one. For a start, it could open the door to more forms of art from people who can't stand. It'd also let artists draw on surfaces that are either too distant or too large to cover, like the sides of buildings. If so, you could see far more personal art dotting the urban landscape in the future.