This project apparently completed in December, so forgive me it this has been posted before. Or did it start in December? I don't read German, so it's not clear. Anyway, very cool video here.

And here's the project's press release. Any German-speakers care to translate? Turns out if you go to the group's home page, there's an 'English' option up top. Sneaky.

So here's the English language blurb on the project.

And here it is in French, just for completeness' sake. Although the body text seems to be in English still, only the headers and dates are in French. Odd.

Anyway, here's a photo of the 'bot doing it's thing.

Click to view attachment




edit: Found English and French pages, added photo.

Feh. I'd bet Caliken write more consistently.

Very interesting. Thanks for posting this.

Huh. I say make it use an ink well and then see how it does...

I second that vote for Caliken!!

That is just sooooo wrong.....

-Bruce

I notice what is being written is The Apocalypse! That says something...

Doug

I think that's just because it was at the end of the project.

They also had one writing out the Koran and another exhibit where it wrote eight-statement manifestos on art/politics/technology. The robot not only scribed, but actually composed what to say for these.

They explain that project here. I only wish they'd posted some of the results.

Fascinating. I noticed the robot pressed rather heavily on the nib. I wonder how many times it had to be replaced, and if sensor tech is advanced enough to actually make a light touch possible?

wow - I think it would take me longer than that

I wonder what it thinks about nib creep?

Is there a video of it writing one of the initials?

You figure these machines can do pick & place with fragile semicondutor wafers, and can solder 5-mil wires (or smaller in wirebonding operations) at hundreds of connections per minute, including real-time test on the board and video inspection, I'm going to wager that you could get it to dip into an ink well if you really wanted

Cool stuff, I'm wondering how much work it would take to characterize a person's handwriting, including the errors and random variations they make, and mimmick that using the machinery.

I compare this to the introduction of the player piano. Sure it's not the real thing, but real composers still made the piano rolls. Oftentimes the rolls would contain music that a person simply could not play, because of the intervals or that more than 11 or 12 notes were played at once, which brought about some fairly interesting music using the traditional instrument.

I know it is just a show of robotics with no actual practical usage intended in terms of writing, but that is all it is. The moveable type printing press is infinitely more practical for bulk work and you cannot beat the beauty of a genuinely hand written manuscript.
However I am by no means saying that this technology is impractical in itself, I know it has other uses.

Just think - with a few years' advancement, a ream of custom "hand"-written wedding invitations for a fraction of the price...

Everything has its beginnings!