The Autopen is an electromechanical device capable of replicating a signature thanks to a robotic arm that traces the registered movements. Here’s how it works technically.
The Autopen – or more simply, in Italian, “Autopenna” – is a special finished object in the media spotlight in the last few days, since mentioned by the President of the United States Donald Trump, who has accused the administration of the predecessor Joe Biden of having abused it.
But what exactly is this tool? Let’s talk about a electromechanical device able to automatically replicate a signature or autograph, thanks to the use of a robotic arm that traces the movements recorded by the signatory. Over time, celebrities, political leaders and also other presidents with stars and stripes (including Trump himself) have made it time over time, because he guarantees always identical acronyms, otherwise impossible to do when the requests become excessive (we speak of days in which thousands are needed …).
Historical origins. The idea is not new: well before modern robots, at the beginning of the 19th century Thomas Jefferson used “polygraphic”a car that, while writing a text with a pen, simultaneously performed a duplicate on a second sheet. The first commercial “autopen” however appeared only over the following century and, more precisely, in the 1930s, anticipating the mechanisms that will then be adopted in the electronic plotters from the 1950s onwards. The signature was engraved on a matrix, and a fireplace mechanism (a series of shaped discs that transform the in linear rotary movement) driven a stylus along a trajectory electrically reproduced on the two Cartesian axes.
Technical operation. A modern autopen, however, is composed of a Mechanical arm, commanded by linear engines or “steppers”, which move pen and stylus on the X -Y axes with a millimeter precision. The original signature, engraved on a rigid matrix, is followed by rotating cams or by a planned housing system. In the most recent models, The door -cable table moves, activating two camses that move the penwith constant consumption of ink and uniform pressure on the sheet. The most recent industrial models add Automatic paper feeding, positioning sensorsregulation of force on the electronic speed support and control. They can manage up to 500 pages per cycle and even reproduce personalized notes in addition to the signature.
Very precise. Professional versions, such as it Stylowriter available to the US administration, they include Protected memory cartridges, non-zero-non-zeroable count and scheduled settings of pressure and speed. Some devices even manage to capture the biometry of the deed (temperature, pressure, rhythm of the hands) to reproduce the authenticity: this is the case of the so -called Longpenwhich also allows you to remotely sign (as the former US president, Barack Obama, who ratified an extension of the law known as the law he did in 2011Patriot Act), maintaining the dynamic characteristics of the human gesture.
Because it is discussing. Beyond political controversies, the autopen raise ethical issues about authenticity: If a signature is replicated by a car, how much “personal” or binding can be? It depends on the contexts. In the world of collectors, such an acronym obtained is worth much less than an autograph, but In the legal field, the use is recognized.
Just in the United States, the signature affixed by a president through this technology is also considered valid for documents of great importance: it was the administration of George W. Bush in 2005 that extended this practice, however used for deeds of less importance since the 1950s of the last century. In Europe and In Italy, specifically, there are no rules that prohibit its use, but not even a regulation about it; In this context, the validity of an automatic signature would require a legal interpretation on a case -by -case basis.
