This studio speculates on a future where digital technology has achieved a level of sophistication such that the goal of producing “creative robots” has been realised. Imagining such a future challenges our most common notion of creativity, as the ultimate preserve of humans, opening it up for examination in a world where we can no longer assume the dominance of our intellect. We’re going to explore this future through the microcosm of drawing machines. By developing machines that physically express the quintessential creative act – drawing – we bring the notion of machines capable of autonomous creativity a little closer and open up questions of how we will interact with these creative “co-workers”.
OSCAR
Rico Minten, Stela Solar 
“Hi, I’m Oscar. I have been taken from the streets of Montmartre, Paris to draw your portrait. Thanks to my keen eye and an excellent memory, you don’t even have to be around while I draw. You can just come back and collect your portrait when I’m finished. O.”
A new version of Oscar will be exhibited at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney as part of the Sydney Design Festival, August 2014.
MAGNET PAINTING ART
Steve Chow, Minshuo Li, Xiwei Li 
Magnet Painting Art is a drawing machine trying to mix science and art together. Ferrofluid, a magic magnetic liquid which is normally used in aerospace and engineering, becomes the basic material to create amazing ‘paintings’. With people’s interaction, ferrofluid forms different wonderful shapes and travels around in a small shallow petri dish glass.
Chromatic Composer
Susana Alarcon, Olive Pan 
Chromatic Composer (CC) is an interactive drawing and playing machine that acts with sound and visual by translating one into another. It is a friendly robot with a chromatic language; the sound captured with a microphone activates and drives the coloured pens motion into unique creations. Audience can clap, talk, sing or even play a song for CC; more versatile sounds will lead to richer drawings. “To understand is to perceive patterns.” — Isaiah Berlin Once the drawing is ready CC functions as an instrument while the drawing becomes a score; users can direct the camera over the drawing and hear the machine’s version. The process of an analogue sound digitally processed, converted into an “analogue” drawing, and the further iteration of the translation process to complete the cycle back to sound pretends to be an example of the possibilities, advantages and disadvantages that can exist in our connections with technologies.
Hexamotion
Andrej Prijic, Con Wei, Ian Zhou, Tianyi Zhang 
Hexamotion is an interactive drawing experience in the medium of water and ink guided by robotics. Users can place blocks in the hexagonal and the robot will respond to these alterations of its environment. The blocks will influence the path the robot takes as it draws by dropping ink. The robot responds to its surrounding with curiosity and caution each represented by a different coloured ink. As the coloured path of one emotion crosses with another a third colour is formed, bringing forth ideas of seeing past experiences from a new perspective. The complete painting is then cast onto the ceiling in light to amplify the properties of the water.
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