e-David Robot Does Art

I am not quite sure about you, but when you have a robot that does what we call as “art”, does it really qualify that way? Art needs to have a purpose and a meaning, it does not just exist just because. After all, that is the way the world is wired – everything has a purpose, and for the “artist” to conjure a piece without any explanation is just plain irresponsible. If that were to be the case, you can just splash some paint randomly on a piece of canvas and tell anyone who looks at it to call it whatever they want, and walk away. Well, perhaps philosophy might be able to answer that question in the future, but right now, e-David happens to be a robotic painter that was developed by the University of Konstanz in Germany.

e-David is capable of capturing photos before using its built-in software to develop a unique set of brush strokes, all as part of a process to conjure a one-of-a-kind painting of the subject. It will have five different brushes to choose from and a palette of 24 paint colors to play around with, and its painting style can even change on the fly in order to make the necessary adjustments. One thing’s for sure, when e-David has been sent to the scrap heap, I doubt that its previous work while still “alive” will fetch much at an auction. I would love to be wrong on this, though.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Robots