Industrial robots have begun dabbling in the art of tattooing. For many people, getting tattoos is fashionable and in the 21st century, people like to be fashionable. But for others it is a very important decision, since it is something that lasts for a lifetime, therefore it is very important to find the right expert, because if a feeling of regret appears over time, it is possible to get rid of them but in a very painful and non-aesthetic way.
However, getting a tattoo and removing it is now a process that can be carried out by an industrial robot. With recent advances in robotics, two French artists, Pierre Emm and Johan da Silveira, together with the Autodesk engineer David Thomasson, worked on a project during an Autodesk sponsored residency at Pier 9, in San Francisco.
We’re talking about a 6-axis industrial robot Fanuc M710 that, as its designers explain, has a haptic probe that recognizes the skin in real time. It proceeds as follows: a 3D scan of the body part to be tattooed is taken, and then the tattoo patterns are placed on the scanner using Dynamo, which is the design software developed by Autodesk in which the designer makes a connection between the drawing and the location. Then the person’s leg is immobilized and the robot equipped with a needle and a high level of precision begins to tattoo a spiral by injecting the ink into the skin with the appropriate depth. Although the drawing was very simple, it was perfectly executed.
According to Pierre Emm, “We connect our technology, adapt it and work on its safety.”
It was very interesting for these designers to investigate the relationship between the characteristic art of tattooing and the way in which new technologies are being used and the way in which they adapt to different artistic fields, creating new design paradigms.