As of the time that this newspaper went to print, typing monkeys had yet to recreate the works of Shakespeare. But a group of artists who will convene on Thursday at the American Museum of Natural History retains hope that humans aren’t the only ones who can produce art.

The lecture and demonstration on the “Art/Science Collision” focuses on robots and their creative capacity. Participating New York artists include the founder of the League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots (Lemur), Eric Singer; the artistic director of Amorphic Robot Works, Chico MacMurtrie, and the creators of the robotic “artists” Sumi-ebots, Eva Sutton and Sarah Hart. The Sumi-ebots are constructed from LEGOs and bamboo brushes, with which they use paint (with sumi-e ink). According to Ms. Sutton, each Sumi ebot has a particular style and is sophisticated enough to move beyond simple pattern repetition. Like a Rembrandt or a Keith Haring, each drawing by a particular robot is unique but stylistically identifiable as the work of an individual.

The machines can also use infrared communication to signal others, which enables them to work together on larger canvases.

Ms. Sutton says that robots are a natural fit for some tasks: They are better than humans at many repetitive jobs, like much of the work in manufacturing plants, for example. But once they step out of the sphere that they “know,” they have extremely limited intelligence.

“It would take a robot with a huge amount of processing power and a great deal of sensors to build up the knowledge base of a human baby or even an insect,” she says. “I’ve never seen a robot as smart as a dog, or even a bee!”

Mr. MacMurtrie will show off a “Telescoping Totem Pole,” a machine that changes as it grows. Noting that the protagonist of the 1987 film “RoboCop” was just a puppet, he says that developing robots is trickier than science-fiction films would have audiences believe. “It is very difficult to build machines, especially those that perform multiple tasks.”

He believes that artists, though not usually thought of as scientific types, have something special to contribute to the field. “Artists really are able to push the threshold because they are like low-budget scientists,” he says. “As the Japanese spend millions, for example, artists spend mere hundreds and at times get comparable results.” Mr. MacMurtrie’s conclusion? “Artists should receive more funding.”

Thursday, 7 p.m., American Museum of Natural History, Linder Theater, Central Park West at 79th Street, 212-769-5200 for reservations, $15 general, $13.50 seniors, students, and members.