Led by artist-engineer Shawn Brixey and research faculty in The School of the Arts, College of Engineering, and College of Health Professions at Virginia Commonwealth University, VCU collaborators—in collaboration with computer science faculty and students from Louisiana State University have created Magnaforma, a large-scale, award-winning, multi-university arts research exhibition designed to harness the power and precision of a large industrial robotic arm whose movement over time will physically create the entire surface topography of Mars here on Earth.
Powered by curiosity AI and using modified rapid prototyping and industrial manufacturing techniques, a large-scale industrial robotic arm creates and poetically explores a full-color, full-scale (144 million km²), three-dimensional twin of Mars on Earth.
Shawn Brixey and Collaborators won a National Endowment for the Arts Grant for “Magnaforma” which you can read about here.
“Magnaforma” project details are also available here.
