Painting Robots

I’m sure we have all heard stereotypical comment by those viewing modern art paintings: “My kid can paint that”. Well, we might be entering a new age where people will be saying: “my robot can paint that”.

In fact, graduate student Oscar G. Torres is trying to figure out a way to make a robot paint with Jackoon. Jackoon is a robot that is connected to a camera that allows it to “see” what it is painting.

In other words, the Jackoon isn’t just randomly splattering paint, it “knows” what it is doing, in theory. Now, does this make paint better than abstract expressionist artists like Jackson Pollack and Willem de Kooning (who serve as namesake of the Jackoon)? Well, take a look at the picture here and judge for yourself. While you are at it, you might want to see the robo-artist at work in this video after the jump.

I remember hearing in Art class that some artists killed themselves after photography was perfected. Of course, art has survived long after the age of digital photography, and photographs can be works of art in and of themselves. This example, like the Jackoon, makes people think about mixing art and technology.

Well, let’s put it this way. If a robot painted a realistic picture from a digital camera, you know what we would call it? A printer. That sort of puts it in perspective, doesn’t it?

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