guest post by RICK!
Designer Kacie Kinzer asks the question, would total strangers help a little robot?
I wondered: could a human-like object traverse sidewalks and streets along with us, and in so doing, create a narrative about our relationship to space and our willingness to interact with what we find in it? More importantly, how could our actions be seen within a larger context of human connection that emerges from the complexity of the city itself? To answer these questions, I built robots.
The Tweenbots only go in a straight line, their only hope of reaching their destination is a help flag asking anyone to point them in the right direction.
The results?
Mission 1: Get from the Northwest to the Southwest Corner of Washington Square Park [in NY]
Time: 42 minutes
Number of people who intervened: 29
[via Metafilter]
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
It helps to be cute!
I wonder how well it would have worked if instead of a smiley face it had a scowl and an audio tape looping on a torrent of profanities.
In other words, 29 people unknowingly helped progress the coming robocalypse. Give the robots an inch, and they’ll enslave humanity.
For some reason I find this little experiment to be awesome. Good idea, Dav. :-( :-P
This was a very cool experiment. I think that an unexpected side result was a good test of general society paranoia, or the lack of it. I would have expected the bomb squad to show up and try and disarm the little guy. At one point in the video a law enforcement officer even stops to help the bot. I’m just glad to see we aren’t all so paranoid that we assume all cardboard autonomous objects are dangerous. This line of experimenting with robots and psychology is very interesting and I would like to see more. …subscribes to blog… for the record, got here via Hack-a-Day.
I wonder how long it will take this robot to be famous?!
Great experiment.
I wonder what (personality/social/character trait) all of the people who helped the robot have in common.