The Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT Media Lab have developed a creative drone called the "Flying Pantograph" that can follow a human artist's pen strokes and copy the drawing on its own canvas. Lab students Harshit Agrawal, Pattie Maes and Sang-won Leigh used a camera to capture the motion and a computer to instruct the drone watching the flow of the pen to duplicate the marks on a vertical canvas. Since pre-historic time, humankind has been involved in drawing through a myriad forms of mediums that, over many years, have evolved to be increasingly computation-driven," the team behind the technology explained. " Accuracy is still to be perfected, as the team considers new ways of helping the drone to maintain balance for the creation of more precise drawings. In addition to being able to draw with their hands, drones could also help artists create three-dimensional models by using them in combination with other tools.
The Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT Media Lab have developed a creative drone called the "Flying Pantograph" that can follow a human artist's pen strokes and copy the drawing on its own canvas. Lab students Harshit Agrawal, Pattie Maes and Sang-won Leigh used a camera to capture the motion and a computer to instruct the drone watching the flow of the pen to duplicate the marks on a vertical canvas. Accuracy is still to be perfected, as the team considers new ways of helping the drone to maintain balance for the creation of more precise drawings. In addition to being able to draw with their hands, drones could also help artists create three-dimensional models by using them in combination with other tools.