You know that incredibly satisfying feeling of seeing a freshly vacuumed carpet with the fibres all perfectly upright and unmarred by footprints? Designer Yuta Sugiura has found a way to take advantage of that effect to print detailed images on a rug or carpeting using a handheld machine he developed and built.
It works kind of like a vacuum, but instead of suction it uses a series of moving agitators to flatten or raise carpet fibres to produce a static monochrome image — but with surprising detail. An accompanying piece of software lets any image be converted into carpet imagery, meaning it could be used to display everything from corporate logos to fine art.
As seen in the video, Yuta has also developed an autonomous robot version of the handheld printer, a smaller pen-like contraption that allows someone to make freehand sketches on a carpet, and even a touchless version that uses puffs of air to create the intricate patterns. But the best use of this fun technology could be simply tricking your roommates into thinking you did your vacuuming chores with a bunch of random lines printed across the carpets in your apartment.
