Cute robots on a mission (to prove that people are nice after all).

This is kind of cute. But also interesting since Kacie Kinzer, the artist responsible, asks:

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.

Here it is in action:

The bigger question at stake here, was how would this cute if somewhat dispensible robot do in its mission. After all, It would need to rely on kindness of strangers to navigate it through all sorts of obstacles.

In fact Kacie was at first cynical:

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.

However, that cynicism appeared to misplaced. Humans would be quite helpful after all.

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."

Now I guess, if we were trying to be scientific about such things, I'd wonder what would happen if the robot was not so darn cute looking. Would an ugly robot fair as well?

More narrative, pictures, and even a map of one of the routes taken at this website. Worth checking out, since it looks like other prototypes are soon on their way.