A Robot Hand That Draws Artfully Demented Portraits

They're programmed to approximate Tresset's own style... just not particularly well.

We have machines that can recognize faces and machines that can draw. Now, thanks to scientist/engineer/artist Patrick Tresset, we have robots that do both -- look at your face and then draw a portrait while you wait. One catch, though: Tresset has programmed them to be kind of clumsy.

[Read more about Patrick Tresset's exhibition at Tenderpixel]

By John Pavlus, a writer for Fastcodesign.com - thanks John from Lisa Powell at Art Rent and Lease!

Postcards from Mars: Inspiration from the Red Planet

From COLOURlovers.com

A beautiful photograph by Jim Bell - of Mars!  NASA's mobile robots Spirit & Opportunity have been exploring Mars for six years now, 25 times longer than predicted. Due to the extended life of the robots the photographic team, headed by Jim Bell, has had more time to capture the Martian landscapes with lighting, framing, color, depth of focus in mind. To date, the robots have sent back over 250,000 photos. Some of which have been selected for Jim Bell's recent book Postcards From Mars, which contains over 150 full-color-process prints. 

You can see more from the New York Times at: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/01/05/science/space/010608-Mars_index.html

And from photographer Jim Bell at:  http://www.postcardsfrommarsbook.com/