Tweenbots & The Kindness of Strangers

Can 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? That's the question that impelled Kacie Kinzer to create Tweenbot -- a human-dependent robot that navigates the city with the help of pedestrians it encounters. Rolling at a constant speed, in a straight line, Tweenbots have a destination on a flag, and rely on people they meet to read this flag and point them in the right direction to reach their destination. The results were completely unexpected. Kacie made the robots from disposable material, figuring people would abuse it to no end. But it turns that people are lot kinder than we might expect -- the robot reached its destination every single time! This video shows the Tweenbot in action.

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