3D Printer Hacked, Now A Robot Tattoo Artist

What do robots know about art, anyway? A wee bit I suppose, if we were to take previous robots that dabbled in the world of churning out artwork, such as the likes of Vertwalker and the e-David robot. Tattooing can be considered to be art as well, where the canvas would be human skin, while the artwork done is more or less permanent. How about getting a 3D printer to change the course of its “destiny” by altering its function so that it will be a robotic tattoo artist instead?

Antoine Goupille recently got tattooed by a specially modified 3D printer, which would possibly make him the first person to receive a machine tattoo. Goupille’s tattoo might be a simple circle instead of some of the extremely complex tattoos that a human is able to do, which means it is not quite ready for prime time action just yet, but the base has been laid down.

The idea for a 3D printer tattoo machine arose during a workshop in Paris organized by the French Ministry of Culture which was held at a design school. A desktop MakerBot 3D printer would be the base model that requires modifications so that it can trace designs onto skin using a pen.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Gadgets
Tags: 3d printer