McGill University team program tiny drone to create intricate dotwork portraits

Drones have proven their capabilities across a versatile range of tasks, from flying and scaling walls, to swimming – and now, they can even paint murals. Researchers have programmed a palm-sized quadcopter to create ink portraits using the'stippling' technique, which requires the precise application of thousands of small dots. As the work continues, the researchers say drones could one day be used for much larger applications, helping artists to paint murals in hard-to-reach outdoor areas and on irregular surfaces. Pictured on left is the'target image,' while the drone's rendition is shown right The researchers developed complex algorithms to plot the drone's flight plan and adjust for positioning errors. The quadcopter was equipped with a miniature arm and a small ink-soaked sponge.