Short on artistic talent, but looking forward to the robot takeover? Â Good for you. Â Experience how art will happen in the future with the Self-Portrait Machine, a robot that straps your hands and forces it into drawing your own likeness.
Created by Jen Hui Liao, the rig takes a photo of you (the human slave) and ably traces the image’s lines. Â Instead of reproducing the picture as a mere computer-drawn image, though, it makes you take part in the resulting product’s creation, by taking control of your hand as you grab on to a pen, guiding you through every line of the sketch.
The machine, of course, should be able to handle the drawing all  on its own.  As such, your own participation is nothing but a waste of time.  The artist offers up an explanation for the idea, which is a bit too filled with artistic gimmickry, though the resulting hardware is definitely fascinating.
A website dedicated to the Self-Portrait Machine will be up soon, offering details about the research and development that went into producing it.  The next step after that, of course, is to build a version that will use mind control to push your hands into motion, planting the seeds for an army of computer-controlled humans.  Beret-wearing roadside portrait artists, your days are numbered!
[We Make Money Not Art via Gizmodo]