A bizarre wonder of German engineering, this incredible industrial robot has been trained to dance, paint portraits and (yes) write the complete Martin Luther bible in beautiful calligraphy. This RobotLab project started off simple, with an immense articulating industrial robot put in a crowded public entryway. Its designers have since programmed it to do everything from empathizing with humans by responding to their brainwaves to painting collages from life.
Believe it or not, a robotic calligrapher is actually nothing knew. A 19th Century Japanese inventor designed an impressive instructional robot. These clever device elegantly dips its quill into an inkwell and then inscribes a miniature page with a perfectly executed character:
Of course, an average person can’t afford a hulking industrial robot or Japanese antique. There is another option, however: a writing robot you can build from household items like a juice box, AA batteries and a coke can. Full instructions of construction a simple writing robot can be found here.
