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Samsung's robot drawing arm made me look like spaghetti

A robot drew my face on a Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Something went terribly wrong.

Jessica Dolcourt Senior Director, Commerce & Content Operations
Jessica Dolcourt is a passionate content strategist and veteran leader of CNET coverage. As Senior Director of Commerce & Content Operations, she leads a number of teams, including Commerce, How-To and Performance Optimization. Her CNET career began in 2006, testing desktop and mobile software for Download.com and CNET, including the first iPhone and Android apps and operating systems. She continued to review, report on and write a wide range of commentary and analysis on all things phones, with an emphasis on iPhone and Samsung. Jessica was one of the first people in the world to test, review and report on foldable phones and 5G wireless speeds. Jessica began leading CNET's How-To section for tips and FAQs in 2019, guiding coverage of topics ranging from personal finance to phones and home. She holds an MA with Distinction from the University of Warwick (UK).
Expertise Content strategy, team leadership, audience engagement, iPhone, Samsung, Android, iOS, tips and FAQs.
Jessica Dolcourt

"You look like spaghetti," my colleague said when he saw the render of my face that a robotic arm drew onto a Galaxy Note 7 phone at Samsung's launch event earlier this week.

Samsung used the mechanized arm to show off what its Note 7 and S Pen stylus can do. In 2012, the company hired cartoonists to draw caricatures on the original Galaxy Note. Now it's graduated to robotics. The demo staff snapped a photo, which a program then translated into a set of instructions for the robot to follow. S Pen gripped in clawed hand, the robot arm carefully scratched away at the screen for roughly 6 minutes, until I had one inky eye and a scar curlicued on my forehead and noseless face.

I watched as my likeness emerged, squiggle by squiggle. The drawing looked promising at first, but then it became clear that flowers and curls flummoxed the program, which comically forgot to give me a nose and scribbled back across my face for good measure.

Don't get me wrong; the robotic drawing demo is all in good fun, and the Note 7's app for drawing, writing and painting builds off years of Note phones. From what I've experienced so far, it's pretty good. But when I do start testing the phone's writing and drawing skills in earnest, you'd better believe I'm using real human hands. Sorry, Mr. Robot.

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This fun demo went comically wrong. Jessica is not impressed.

Sarah Tew/CNET