If you think people dressing up as Micheal Jackson for MJ impostor competitions, or spending years and money to convert a DeLorean into the DeLorean DMC-12 from Back to The Future is next level commitment to their favorite things, then you’d be surprised how much further these true believers can go.
In another such example, this one Leonardo Da Vinci superfan ended up recreating a self-drawing invention from the guy as well. Da Vinci’s Drawmaton was expertly crafted by this fan, Robert Sabuda, from a personal computer sold back in 1982.
We’re not saying that the invention is crazy and neither is recycling but dang, we’re seriously impressed by the dedication and attention to details here:
Most of us have seen a ZX Spectrum (if not, Google it Generation X/Zers). Its this old computing device from back in the 80s.
Sabuda took that old piece of metal and recreated a Drawmaton, an old invention of the great scientist, inventor and philosopher Leonardo Da Vinci.
The device is Da Vinci inspired not just because it can draw but because its inspired by the information collected from Da Vinci’s own personal computer. That’s a shocker, huh.
Da Vinci’s Drawmaton was the world’s first programmable computer that could both write and draw.
The dedication is moving but the idea that there was a computer that far back in time (during the Renaissance) may come as a shock to some but this is Da Vinci we’re talking about, the guy who made blueprints for tanks and a helicopter.
This oddball sort-of computer has traditional gears (we still use these in everything), an arm that draws, and wooden discs called ‘petalo‘.
If you’re wondering where’d Robert Sabuda got the model for the original Drawmaton, both he and the Leonardo Da Vinci Robot Society built the machine based on drawings found in Da Vinci’s Codex Atlanticus.
So far the recreation of this invention can only scribble stuff, but the Society and Robert plan on creating an application that can expand the one-armed robot’s ability. The app will allow for personal designs to be converted into home-made custom petalos.
