kinetica
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Aikon 2 robot sketches the human face, uses its talent to meet girls
Yes, that's exactly what it looks like -- a robot that can look at a human face and make a pretty reasonable sketch of it. Featured at London's Kinetica art fair last week, the Aikon 2 project boasts an "inexpensive" robot arm and software developed by a research team at Goldsmiths University of London. As you might have guessed, building a device with rudimentary artistic ability is no mean feat -- leading the developers to try and understand and simulate the processes by which artists sketch the human face, including: visual perception of the subject and the sketch, drawing gestures, cognitive activity, reasoning, and the influence of training. The project's website emphasizes that "due to knowledge and technological limitations the implementation of each process will remain coarse and approximate." In other words, the robot "is expected to draw in its own style." Which is, quite frankly, better than we can do. We look forward to seeing these things in the cafes of the future, where robots not only fetch us drinks but chat up girls with offers to draw their portraits. Video after the break.
Artist's Game Boy concerts get machine-based visuals
A gentleman who goes by the name Gieskes has created an interesting conflation of seemingly opposing mediums. The DIY'er / artist in question has combined Game Boy-based music with a low-fi, mechanical system of lights and motors, which create kinetic-art visuals that are synced to the sound. The concept is to build screen-saver-like displays which are actually created with analog equipment. The device features three components -- cans, lights, and a camera -- all of which can be "sequenced" much like the Game Boy, thus producing constantly changing (and changeable) effects. Want to see it for yourself? Watch the video after the break (especially towards the end) to learn how it all takes shape.[Via Boing Boing Gadgets]
Rollersuit brings racing game to life
Have you ever wanted to slide along the ground at amazing speeds like the cybernetically-enhanced man/car hybrids in Kinetica? What? You say you haven't? You say you don't even know what Kinetica is? OK, take a few minutes to watch some videos of the game. We'll wait....OK, so doesn't that look like it would be fun in real life? We know!Anyway, French artist/engineer Jean-Yves Blondeau has apparently made this gaming dream a reality with a 31-wheeled roller-suit that can travel up to 100 kilometers per hour. According to Laurent, the suit was designed "to give [audiences] a smile, to get them out from their bad life." It certainly worked on us, and we hope it'll work on you too when you view the below clip.[Thanks Jeff]
