la machine is a new take on the Useless Machine: flip its switch and an arm emerges from the box to switch itself off again.
But it does not turn itself off the same way every time. The arm may emerge immediately, hesitate, move slowly, or combine its movements with different sounds. Sometimes it resists interaction; at other times, when left alone, it may extend its arm to seek attention.
Thousands of behaviors are available, and the machine is designed to develop a different “personality” over time as it is used.
A machine whose job is to be useless now has moods and personality-like behavior. Only the uselessness keeps getting more capable.
Petoi's mini robot dog Quaddle can keep walking even when flipped upside down. In the video, three Quaddles are also fixed together with blocks so they behave like one larger robot, then perform a backflip in unison.
A tiny quadruped walking around without seeming to care which side is up already gives it a peculiar creature-like quality. Combining three units turns them into something resembling one larger quadruped that rotates as a single body, making the demo increasingly unconcerned with both orientation and robot count.
First it keeps walking upside down as if nothing happened; then three of them combine for a backflip. This robot dog seems remarkably unconcerned with either up and down or how many bodies it has.
A machine whose job is to be useless now has moods and personality-like behavior. Only the uselessness keeps getting more capable.