Machine Learning Integrated Robotics for Learning Physical Artistry

One of the main reasons I worked at FAR-Labs in NYC was to pursue my personal research on augmenting the physical artist’s workflow. I focused on using the ShadeSketch ML model and the AxiDraw to detect line drawings and programmatically draw realistic shading on them from a given light direction. Shadowing can be challenging for novice physical artists, but once they have a robotic pen plotter shade for them, they begin to understand its intricacies.

Furthermore, with the robotic shading pipeline complete, I hope to run a user case study on the outcomes of this unique human-robotics interaction. Specifically, I will study how artists react to the robot’s shading capabilities and how that implies conclusions on future human-robotics interactions.