The Most Adorable Social Experiment Ever (VIDEO)

Via Gizmodo, the "tweenbot" looks like a child's craft project (aka awesome) but was designed at NYU as the basis for a social experiment.

Tisch School of the Arts student Kacie Kinzer describes the goal of the experiment here (in that academic-ese one grows out of the minute one has to work a real job):

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.

She released it amidst the crowds in Washington Square Park with a flag on its head that announced its intended destination and since it can only move forward, whether or not the tweenbot got there depended upon strangers guiding it past obstacles like trash ditches, guard rails, and other NYU students.

What follows is an adorable and heartening video of the journey:

For more on Kacie's projects go here.

Comments

[sammcity]

Very cool social experiment in NY! Right after Sept 11th my family went to visit our cousins in NY as they lost alot of friends that sad day.

What was truly amazing was that 15-20 people stopped in each direction at the NY Stock Exchange so we could take pictures of the American Flag in lights.. truly the best moment I have had in NY!

[SolarPowerGuy]

Repeat this experiment in Texas, the land of good ol' boys with guns. Think you'll get a different result?

[Clavis]

Hey, I remember that robot! I tried to sell it some weed!

[cyclobenzaprine9]

This is so cute! What a cool experiment! =)

[NoMoFearNoMoHate]

It's the new way to transport drugs or deliver a bomb! And everybody helps! Yeah!

[ocheeky1]

Good one. I didn't even think of that! That wouldn't go over too well in some places...

[BlueZoo]

Love the robot and the premise! I couldn't have walked past the robot without helping it and then making sure it arrived at its destination. I was distressed to see the mother with two pre-teen boys walk completely by the robot. She missed a sterling opportunity for teaching her sons about helping and she missed a great moment for herself just watching her sons interact with the robot. Sigh...

[MarsAmbassador]

It's amazing how many uncurious people just walked past that thing like they see one of those all the time, everywhere they go. How could you walk past that and not at least be curious enough to stop and read the flag?

[JayBachand]

Cute, but even a first year sociology student knows that a variety of factors determine whether we help out an actual human being - their race, gender, attractiveness, perceived economic status, clothing, and so on. The tweenbot was successful because it's a nondescript stimulus, it doesn't provide the usual types of sensory data that our computational minds can assess and valuate (oriented around unconscious questions like, 'Is this person a threat to me?" "What benefit will I achieve for helping, and is it greater than the effort I have to make," and so on). Similar experiments with people reveal a lot more about the complicated analysis we employ in altruistic situations, and it's much more nuanced than this simple phenomenological test reveals.

[rjmiller]

They could try it again, but this time draw a scary robot face.

[Ondori]

lol love this comment! Wonder what the outcome would be.

[tlgeiger62]

Well put - but it's still a kinda cute little robot.

[elcerritan]

Well, yeah it's cute. Call me cynical, but I suspect if this were some unpalatable wino or a mentally ill person needing help getting from A to B, most people would be much less solicitous. Yep, I think we'd have a much less heartwarming "narrative about our relationship to space and our willingness to interact with what we find in it." So I'm not sure what this so-called experiment proved, other than that people, even (gasp) New Yorkers, like stuff that's cute and gimmicky - and didn't we already know that?

[lovethesinner]

I love him. (the robot) Hope he gets there. But, if he doesn't, his trip was filled with good will. Life is good.

[reachpete]

New Yorkers are rad.

[plooger]

Ok, so al Qaeda just watched that video is now building an army of C4-stuffed tweenbots to unleash on American cities.

Loved the video; though I wish there had been better camera coverage, in order to record the expressions on people's faces before and after their interaction with the tweenbot, to see how their helping it along seemed to affect their mood/demeanor.

[Daniel Carr]

A video and audio recorder in the robot would add immensely to the study.

[NeverHadFaith]

This was the second heart warming thing I saw today. The human race isn't so bad.

[aaronaa3]

That is probably the most adorable thing I've seen in a loong time.

[tlgeiger62]

Have you viewed the "train station dance"?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/12/sound-of-music-train-stat_n_186016.html

[revhatchell]

bravo!

[moreDumber]

People are cool!