Robots have long been useful in completing challenging or hazardous tasks: dismantling explosives, assembling automobiles, winning chess tournaments, etc. Robotlab in Karlsruhe, Germany, is training them for another purpose: calligraphy. Above, an articulated limb renders the Luther Bible in a primitive but serviceable version of the schwabacher script.

This innovation can’t come a moment to soon. For thousands of years, human calligraphers have subjected themselves to years of difficult study, exposing themselves to demanding physical conditions in the service of the written word. Even with the advent of non-toxic ink and cruelty-free vellum, calligraphy is not without its hazards: in addition to carpal tunnel syndrome and asthenopic eye strain, careless practicioners often suffer the socially sclerotic effects of Renaissance Faire attendance or absorptive Tolkienism. Most chillingly, mounting evidence suggests that even in industrialized nations, calligraphy is becoming a popular pastime among children.

Thankfully, technology is coming to our rescue. As these photos suggest, robot calligraphers may soon be employed to create that common household object, the hand-lettered bible in roll form. And overhead, without any fuss, the stars are going out.

.:via H & FJ

Kirsi Salonen, a young finish artist, wrote an interesting piece that strikes the whys and hows of digital production. You can read it here.

‘Why go to the expense of buying an expensive shop display system when you can make one yourself? And in this case you don’t have to stack the products on the shelf or even remove them from their boxes. I suppose a certain skill is required to avoid slicing through the merchandise while cutting the window in the cardboard box, but with practice and the help of gravity it would get easier. The question is, is the shop keeper lazy, or tricky, or is he both? Has he calulated that this device will help people to imagine he’s cheaper than anyone else, or is he so bored by the tiny profit each sale brings that he’s decided to visualise his frustration? Or is it his way of personalising what might otherwise be a rather ordinary local shop? Has he discovered that a help-yourself system like this one actually improves sales? Maybe the framing around each box of products does make them seem more special than the ones on the shelves below. Does it help us to know that the shop is in Barcelona, in a not so rich part of town?’

.: Jasper Morrison – Photo of the Month