Tweenbots are human-dependent robots that navigate the city with the help of pedestrians they encounter. Rolling at a constant speed, in a straight line, Tweenbots have a destination displayed on a flag, and rely on people they meet to read this flag and to aim them in the right direction to reach their goal.
http://www.tweenbots.com/ 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.”
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It’s interesting to see how helpful people can be to an inanimate object. Now if only they can transfer that kindness and concern to other human beings, the world would be a much nicer place to live. How many times have you seen the homeless passed by without even so much as a glance? With any hope the future will change all of that.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Joe. We need to show more kindness to people. How many times do we watch the news and see people just walk by someone lying in the street, hit by a car. I think it was Dateline where they aired an episode of a "pretend" couple who met online, and when the woman got up to use the restroom, the man pretended to drug her drink. The people sitting neat by did nothing. I guess what it comes down to (sometimes) is that it is safer to help an inanimate object, than a person.
ReplyDeleteAgreed with Debbie and Joe. I have to say, though, I'm confused. Do the Tween Bots themselves serve a purpose or are they just for fun?
ReplyDeleteAgree with everyone above. No one will give you directions if your lost in center city but they will physically help a stupid robot? So are these things actually delivering something or are they just a waste of money to see how people would interact?
ReplyDeleteThat stupid robot most likely won't pull a knife on you or pee on your car when you walk away from it.
ReplyDeleteThe social experiment is that it's not necessary to load up a gadget with sensors, wifi gadgets, and GPD tracking devices to get an object or to FUFILL A CONSUMER NEED to it's designated destination.
"The smile signals its innocent intentions and the Tweenbot's label makes it clear how to help. It's something for designers and technologists to remember; sometimes cute and clever can get the job done much cheaper and in less time than smart and expensive."
is it just to see what people will do?
ReplyDeletei think this technology could be better used in other ways