If you saw a little lost robot rolling down the street, would you help it reach its destination?
Kacie Kinzer (http://www.tweenbots.com/) wondered that, and built little robots to set loose in New Your City, to find out.
In New York, we are very occupied with getting from one place to another. 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.
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.
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ] (http://www.tweenbots.com/)
http://www.tweenbots.com/
(http://users.vianet.ca/gpetrant/LastGangNewYorkB.jpg)
And so began the rise of the machines from a social experiment gone horribly, horribly wrong.