Tweenbots rely on human help

posted Apr 11th 2009 5:28pm by Eliot Phillips
filed under: robots hacks

tweenbots

[Kacie Kinzer] put together an interesting social experiment: Could a robot navigate purely by the help of strangers? She constructed an inexpensive Tweenbot robot that would drive in a straight line. A flag was attached to the top with a plea for help and a destination. Surprisingly, on the first run it was able to traverse through Washington Square Park in just 42 minutes with the help of 29 people. You can see a video of the first run below. This is part of [Kacie]’s thesis work at ITP and she has many other bots planned. While it’s a great demonstration of human kindness, there’s another lesson: If you don’t think your public project looks innocuous enough, draw a smiley face on it.

[via Laughing Squid]

Comments [43]

tagged: bliptv, itp, kacie kinzer, laughing squid, navigation, robot, thesis, tweenbot, video, washington square park

Reader Comments

Actually was kinda cute.. after seeing all the women touch it I want to be the robot… lol Very cool social experiment..

Posted at 5:47 pm on Apr 11th, 2009 by Nicklaus Michael (Cold)

I love how the police officer helped it and didnt try to blow it up thinking it was a bomb lol

Posted at 5:54 pm on Apr 11th, 2009 by The Moogle

@moogle i was also surprised nobody called it in as a bomb.

Posted at 6:13 pm on Apr 11th, 2009 by sean

This really put a smile on my face.
What a cool project.

Posted at 6:14 pm on Apr 11th, 2009 by strider_mt2k

just don’t set dozens of these things free in Boston…the cops there will panick!

Posted at 6:17 pm on Apr 11th, 2009 by momotarosan

I Was Just Waiting For Some Little Kid To Come Along And “WANT” one :L.

Posted at 6:36 pm on Apr 11th, 2009 by Drumm'age

This is quite interesting – instead of programming a complex robot to perform a task, this robot is simple and stupid, and the flag on top is essentially programming humans to perform the task instead.

Posted at 6:46 pm on Apr 11th, 2009 by pelrun

It just occurred to me – not only is it programming humans, it’s using an *exploit* to do it. People won’t just help any old object get to it’s destination, but a cute robot crying out for help? It’s a rootkit for people.

Posted at 6:51 pm on Apr 11th, 2009 by pelrun

I’m with pelrun on the programming subject.
Definitely a good social experiment. Glad it worked out well. Its nice to see not everyone on this planet is a complete jerk. :)

Posted at 7:04 pm on Apr 11th, 2009 by BigBubbaX

A guy uses his feet and a gal in nice clothes gets down and uses her hands. it Just shows you who really cares.

Posted at 7:53 pm on Apr 11th, 2009 by BigD145

That is a really cool social experiment.

@pelrun: Dammit, you’re right.

Posted at 8:55 pm on Apr 11th, 2009 by Squeakyneb

what if this was really a test by an alien race, and the website is just part of the cover up? we’ve either just shown them that we are generally a kind species and deserve our place in the universe, or that we are pushovers and all they need to do is paint smiley faces on their killer robots and the ensuing invasion will be relatively simple.

think about it.

Posted at 9:20 pm on Apr 11th, 2009 by thetwiz

kinda neat that all interaction with them was basically altruistic (even when it wasn’t helpful)

i’d have expected at least one or two people to catch on and point it into a storm drain just to fuck with it

Posted at 10:09 pm on Apr 11th, 2009 by VGZ

I’d like to see the difference between this one and one without a face, or even a malicious looking one

Posted at 10:48 pm on Apr 11th, 2009 by Bob

oooh! he’s soo cute. i would totally give him directions … or a ride … and $20 for lunch. come hang out sometime man. i got volts … and amps … and some pot!

Posted at 10:52 pm on Apr 11th, 2009 by charlie

Its a great project… Personally would have wired it to give a lite ZAAAAPPP to the pesky humans and see if it had the same result.

Posted at 11:19 pm on Apr 11th, 2009 by tripointlogic

I so want to give him a little briefcase and hat like he’s off to work, maybe whistling a tune.

Posted at 11:21 pm on Apr 11th, 2009 by thedarkharlequin

@ charlie
thats the way!
why not be nice and accepting!
that robot seems cool, if i see him ima buy him a beer!

Posted at 11:26 pm on Apr 11th, 2009 by cameron20020

Nice experiment, but did anyone else notice that it veered left just a bit?

Posted at 12:00 am on Apr 12th, 2009 by supernova_hq

All it takes iz 2 dots & a line to make stuff adorabl. http://www.flickr.com/photos/apelad/3412897989/

Posted at 2:45 am on Apr 12th, 2009 by F.

This is how the robot overlords will take over the human race… with happy faces. BEWARE!

Posted at 5:57 am on Apr 12th, 2009 by Fletch

This is a follow up video on the Tweenbot:
http://ferretbunny.com/?p=778

Posted at 6:59 am on Apr 12th, 2009 by Jayne Simplatico

To me it says a lot about the people in that area. If you let that thing go in my town, well, either someone would steal it or smash it.

Posted at 8:35 am on Apr 12th, 2009 by Chris Kraft

What is that song? It’s so cute!
-Taylor

Posted at 1:03 pm on Apr 12th, 2009 by Taylor Alexander

Do this in a city in western europe, especially in parks, and some islamic immigrant’s kid will kick the thing to bits and throw the toxic waste in the pond.
You might think I’m being negative, well the proof is in the pudding, get somebody to try it and see.

Posted at 1:37 pm on Apr 12th, 2009 by Wwhat

It would be interesting if they made two of these with different colored flags (or possibly different facial expressions) and had them “race” to the same destination.

Posted at 2:35 pm on Apr 12th, 2009 by AM

http://blip.tv/file/get/Kaciek-tweenbots240.flv

Stop embedding flash videos you fucking idiots.

Posted at 3:21 pm on Apr 12th, 2009 by joe

i had considered letting a basic robot downtown just to see what would happen to it, but i never did because stupid stupid people would create a bomb scare. but now armed with this smiley face strategy, i think i might just revive the project.

Posted at 6:00 pm on Apr 12th, 2009 by dandin1

This is awesome, it really is. I wonder how well this would work in my city.

Posted at 6:30 pm on Apr 12th, 2009 by shadowsilver03

@ jayne
i love ferretbunny!!! thats a great clip. ;)

Posted at 7:21 pm on Apr 12th, 2009 by charlie

this is more a socio-psychological experiment on people’s reaction to inanimate (though kinetic) objects isn’t it? I think the people perceive the bot more to be that of an extension of the creator, and as such, see it as helping him, not the bot.

Though charming, i would think it would be more interesting if the bot atleast had a voice, or perhaps a method of actually asking people itself which direction to go.

Posted at 9:04 pm on Apr 12th, 2009 by blizzarddemon

yeah, what’s the music. I freakin love it.

Posted at 9:26 pm on Apr 12th, 2009 by labarp43

the bot is small, simple and cute. it’s far from intimidating, and people seem to be more than willing to help it out. i’ll bet that as you increase the complexity of the bot, and make it appear more human, people will be less willing to help it out.

would you help out a smelly bum who staggered around bumping into things and couldn’t figure out how to reach a destination even though it was only a few hundred yards away? probably not.

this is an excellent social experiment.

Posted at 9:53 pm on Apr 12th, 2009 by amk

this wouldn’t have worked 7.5 years ago

Posted at 11:05 pm on Apr 12th, 2009 by will d.

I am so tempted to do this at my local shopping center, but idiots would either break it or someone would mark it as a “bomb scare”

Posted at 11:40 pm on Apr 12th, 2009 by Steve

The song is “Rabbit Pushing Mower” by Toy http://aurgasm.us/2006/11/toy/

Posted at 4:17 am on Apr 13th, 2009 by F.

give him a small plate with mini burgers…. Adorable. I thought this whole experiment was Charming!

Posted at 1:49 pm on Apr 13th, 2009 by kyle007

give him a small plate with mini burgers…. Adorable. I thought this whole experiment was Charming!

Posted at 1:50 pm on Apr 13th, 2009 by kyle007

what?

Posted at 6:02 pm on Apr 13th, 2009 by strider_mt2k

this video made me smile spontaneously. love it.

Posted at 5:45 am on Apr 14th, 2009 by dirk

@wwhat.
Don’t be so fucking stupid.

Posted at 7:59 am on Apr 14th, 2009 by mattj

I think this is a great project. I love to see peoples kindness, its cool to think that it only took him 42 mins with such a simple process.. maby in the future most robots will do things more directly related to humans giving them input. maby without them knowing it….

Posted at 10:07 am on Apr 14th, 2009 by james

Posted at 2:19 am on Apr 15th, 2009 by Arkangel

Tweenbots rely on human help

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