Covernomics has developed our own unique reactive drawing machine based on a variation of the hanging-pen plotter and a Polargraph.
We are using our Drawnomic machine to explore human-computer interactions, where virtual actions in the digital word can influence and create physical change in the real word.
Drawnomic is capable of working in two distinct modes of operation: passive and reactive. In passive mode it simply recreates an existing image.
When in reactive mode Drawnomic can accept instruction and input directly, or indirectly from anywhere in the world via RSS and other data feeds. These instructions and inputs are then combined and interpreted by our unique software, the Drawnomic machine than takes a pen (a physical human tool) and uses it to draw the result.
The reactive mode translates the design process into a world-wide collaboration by utilising live data streams as a base for pattern generation. Due to the dynamic nature of these live data streams, the system generates patterns with unpredictable visuality. Live news feeds from the Internet are analysed, filtered and converted into a unique visual pattern that is then drawn by the machine. Because of this each drawing is completely unique and a direct result and representation of a specific day or time period.
The Drawnomic machine has been exhibited at both Nottingham Contemporary and Nottingham Playhouse.
You can see more images created by Drawnomic on Flickr.
Drawnomic prior art and inspiration:
Hektor
Der Kritzler
AS220 Drawbot
Polargraph
NewsKnitter
Drawnomic was created using Processing and Arduino.