Thursday, May 7, 2009

Tweenbots

As part of a student thesis at Tisch School of the Arts in NY, these tiny robots require humans to point them in the right direction:

About the Tweenbots:
"Given their extreme vulnerability, the vastness of city space, the dangers posed by traffic, suspicion of terrorism, and the possibility that no one would be interested in helping a lost little robot, I initially conceived the Tweenbots as disposable creatures which were more likely to struggle and die in the city than to reach their destination...

The results were unexpected. Over the course of the following months, throughout numerous missions, the Tweenbots were successful in rolling from their start point to their far-away destination assisted only by strangers. Every time the robot got caught under a park bench, ground futilely against a curb, or became trapped in a pothole, some passerby would always rescue it and send it toward its goal. Never once was a Tweenbot lost or damaged. Often, people would ignore the instructions to aim the Tweenbot in the 'right' direction, if that direction meant sending the robot into a perilous situation. One man turned the robot back in the direction from which it had just come, saying out loud to the Tweenbot, 'You can’t go that way, it’s toward the road.'"


I'm sure this experiment will be reviewed by our robot masters when they take over, selecting those humans which will be deemed worthy of saving. Don't walk away from a robot in need, is all I'm saying.


[via Boing Boing]

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