Robotic Mimicry: Lightwriting Via Kinect [Video]

Shawn Sims and Karl Willis from Carnegie Mellon University have programmed a robotic arm to mimic the movements of humans. Using Kinect technology to show the ABB4400 robot where to move to, it makes organic motions that closely follow those made by the person standing in front of it waving their hand. Sims writes:

The future of fabrication lies in the ability to fuse precision machines with an intuitive, creative process. Our built environment will become radically different when standardization is replaced with robotic customization. This project is designed to generate a collaborative space for humans and robots by offering a unique design process. ABB4400 will mimic. ABB4400 will interpret + augment. You + ABB4400 will share and create together.

This orange robotic arm currently resides in CMU’s Digital Fabrication Lab and in the video below you can see it showing off its lightwriting skills:

Robotic Mimicry lightWrite from Shawn Sims on Vimeo.

Shawn Sims

Karl Willis

dFab