Amazing Reporter

Amazing Reporter

Resembling a cardboard version of the movie WALL.E, the Boxie robot drives around the city with a camera and asks people to tell him interesting stories. The robot, created by Alexander Reben of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is designed to encourage people to cooperate, such as climbing stairs to show him something interesting. Moving on a tracked chassis, the robot uses sonar to detect obstacles, and a temperature-sensitive sensor allows it to recognize people (although it is easy to make a mistake in the case of a large dog). Spends about six hours a day gathering material and is limited by memory rather than battery capacity. It contacts the creators as soon as it finds a Wi-Fi network. To date, Boxy has collected about 50 interviews, from which the MIT team has edited a five-minute documentary. (? New scientist?)

Boxie: a robot that collects stories