Tweenbots

In New York, we are very busy, getting from one place to another. I thought: can human resources, crossing sidewalks and streets next to us, help to help describe our relations with space and our willingness to interact with what we find in it? Moreover, how can we consider our actions in the context of complex socios of the big city? To answer these questions, I built a robot.

Tweenbots is a robot that is completely dependent on people. He finds the road thanks to the help of pedestrians he meets. Traveling at a constant speed, in a straight line, Tweenbots has a flag on which its destination is written, and it is supposed to be that people, having read the information from the flag, will send it in the right direction.

Given the extreme vulnerability of the city’s space, the danger of road traffic, suspicion of terrorism, as well as the likelihood that no one wants to help a small lost robot, I initially conceived Tweenbots as a one -time creature that is destined to fight and die in the city, trying to achieve their destination. Due to the fact that I built it minimally technological, I had no opportunity to track Tweenbot's path, so I went to the first experience with a hidden camera in my wallet. Leaving Tweenbot in the middle of the sidewalk, I went so far that it was difficult to notice me, but I saw Tweenbot - a smiling 10 -inch cardboard traveler - the remaining one on one with his inevitable fate.

Mission: get from the north-west to the southeastern corner Washington Square Park / Time: 42 minute / number of people who helped the robot: 29.

The results were unexpected. Within a few months, after many experiments, Tweenbots always successfully reached the distant destination with the help of ordinary pedestrians. Each time the robot drove under the bench in the park or could not get out of the pit, there was always a man who was ready to help the robot and direct him to the goal. The robot has never been lost and has not been broken by someone. Often people ignored the instructions on the flag if the direction on it was dangerous for the robot. And once the man directed the robot on the way back and loudly told him: "Hey! You should not go there. There is a road there!"

Little robot travel video:

Source Free translation: http://www.tweenbots.com/