Tattoo designer robot,

A robot artist of tattoo,

'We just wanted to see a big, mean industrial robot arm doing this really subtle interaction with a human,' explains David Thomasson, Principle Research Engineer, Applied Research Lab at Autodesk, in a video on the project.

'Our research is really focused on this more intimate relationship that people are likely to have with machines in the not too distant future.'

The process begins by scanning the body part, the researchers explain.

Once it has been scanned, it is converted to 'a language that the robot understands,' and this is uploaded to a graphical design environment called Dynamo, which applies the graphics onto the scanned surface.

Then, the code is exported, and tells the robot exactly what to do.

Industrial machines are known to be dangerous, and are often kept separated from humans to avoid injuries.

So, to make the project possible, the researchers had to explore an entirely new area of health and safety.

'The standards don't exist for this so our health and safety team went through that in minute detail and got advice from external groups, and they're working toward open-sourcing this sort of knowledge and working with other universities and research institutes to really open up this area of robotics,' Thomasson explained.

In the video, the robot can be seen etching a circular spiral into the skin of a volunteer's leg as ink drips down his skin.

And, the team takes serious measure to ensure the volunteer doesn't move during the process, binding his leg to the chair.

Despite the preparations, the team was 'tense' as they awaited the robot's first moves, but the worries were soon put to rest. 

'There's all this energy that had been expended and it was currently being focused through this big industrial robot arm, all that was being focused onto this tiny little point, the tip of a needle,' Thomasson said.

'The tattoo gun started up, everyone in the space was holding breath, was all tense.

'The needle pierced the skin and then just started doing what it does – what it's meant to do – so elegantly and precisely and beautifully.'