Gitex 2020: Robot draws portraits on the spot

Dubai - Three webcams and three robotic arms start off to create a masterpiece from three different angles.

Imagine that you are on a street in Europe getting your portrait done on the go. Except that it is not just one artist, but three, who are at work to create the portrait. And mind you, none of them is human. Welcome to the future of art.

Three webcams and three robotic arms start off to create a masterpiece from three different angles. At the ongoing Gitex Technology Week, three whimsical robots are at work only to further convince us that if humans can do it, then so can robots! The installation is been showcased for the first time in the region, and the visitors can get three complimentary portraits, with different perspectives from three ingenious robots here.

The installation is a brainchild of Patrick Tresset, a Brussels-based artist, known for his performative installations using robotic agents as stylised actors. He is also known for his exploration of the drawing practice using computational systems and robots and his work, in general, focuses on human traits and experiences.

The experience offered by the artist is surreal. The subject of the portrait, or muse of the robotic artist, occupies his/her on a chair, placed in front of three work stations/tables, which hold three empty sheets of paper, with three robotic arms, holding regular pens in between their fingers, waiting to draw out the masterpiece. Attached to the table are also three webcams, with their eyes, on you. Their job is to watch you, communicate what they see to the robotic arm, for it to know how to go about bringing your facial features alive on the sheet. The webcams would keep looking at you to keep the communication going. In simpler terms, the drawing machines with eyes are linked to an artificial mind, which ensures that the task gets done. The arms continue to scribble lines until done, as curious humans gather around to see what’s on the table. The final result, three-line drawing portraits of the subject, from three angles.

You can’t take the portrait home, but you can click images of it and with it. The portraits, for now, are being added to the wall at the stall, and in the future will all be part of a monumental artwork The Collection, that already includes more than 40,000 drawings. So, get yourself a piece of art and become part of the art and history as well. Lest you complain, missing on the human element of the experience of getting a portrait done, each of the arms does sign off the sheets, with an indecipherable signature.

While we would have loved it if we could have addressed each by their name, their human maker, Patrick, is calling them all by Paul!

purva@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai