Just when we were thinking there weren’t quite enough people who could draw faces, along comes a robot created by researcher Sylvain Calinon that can sketch a workmanlike likeness of someone within its field of vision. See the courteous contraption doing its dirtywork in a video on the next page.

We wonder why the robot’s handlers insisted on using a pen that must be dipped in an ink well. But that’s one polite robot, saying thank you to its slavemaster. One thing we can say for its artistic ability: It can certainly draw straight lines for the frame. We’d like to see what an artistic robot will be able to do 10 years from now, though. [Technabob]