The bots are cardboard covered with a very happy smile on them. Very approachable (think of the colorful bubble shaped Macintosh from some years back). Small and non-threatening. It is a novelty item on the street/sidewalk. So, the 'is it noticed' step is avoided right off the bat. Interpreting it as 'in trouble' when it is stuck is not hard and certainly noticed. The instructions on the flag (That say clearly "Help Me" on them) and the ease with which it could be pointed in a useful direction means knowing what to do and taking responsibility to do it was easy.
What I like about this, however, is the collective effort towards success, even when the contributor doesn't see the end result. It wouldn't surprise me that someone might point it in an incorrect direction, even intentionally. But, certainly, someone else would eventually see it stuck (because, lacking any navigation capabilities) it would need help and get an intervention that would point it in the right direction. This might be a fun project for a social psych class, comparing how people react to the robot in different situations. Paul Bernhardt FSU Department of Psychology 301-687-4410 On 4/13/09 8:37 AM, "Mike Palij" <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sun, 12 Apr 2009 22:02:22 -0700, Christopher D. Green wrote: >> Now here's a social psychology experiment (of sorts) > > More like performance art. > >> that seems to contradict a lot the nasty stuff about (lack of) bystander >> intervention. > > I'm not sure about this. > >> They put a small robot that could only roll in straight lines on the >> "mean streets" of New York City. > > A point that isn't made on the website is that the robot, though > released on public streets, is essentially going around the urban > "campus" of NYU. Most of the people shown in the pictures > are likely to be NYU college students or students from other > colleges. Even the scene on the sidewalk (with DELION Deli > sign in the background) is misleading. This is on a stretch of > Broadway and to your left is an entire block of NYU buildings > (looks like the picture was taken in front of the Tisch School > of Arts). This is also an area where NYU students wait for > NYU shuttle buses to different parts of the "campus" (e.g., > some of the student dorms located more uptown as well as > the NYU Medical Center). > > As for the route taken through Washington Square Park, the > western edge that the robot took (heading east on 4th street) > it passed by the Catholic Center at NYU, the student union > (where some "meanness" occurred recently when a floor > was taken over by some "radical" students), and the Bobst > Library. The park is also going through extensive renovation > (e.g., moving the fountain to align it with Fifth Avenue, new > paths and lawns, etc.). Usually, there is a police van/communications > center on 4th St, close to where the robot began. > > In short, these "mean streets" are probably "mean" only if one > is a new student to NYU from some other out of town place and > is wondering why everyone is doing so much walking instead of > driving (Doh!). > > However, I can think of some locations that would serve as more > appropriate "real-life" settings, comparable to the situations that, > say, Stanley Milgram used in his studies of whether urbanites would > help someone in need. > >> Out of the top of the robot stuck a >> pennant stating its intended destination. As the robot got stuck >> (against curbs, in potholes, under benches, etc.) total strangers would >> come along, read the pennant, extricate the robot from its predicament, >> and point it in the right direction. Apparently, they didn't lose a >> single robot. > > "Total strangers"? Not exactly. Indeed, one wonders what role > the perception of fellow students (and possibly faculty) might have > had on how people responded. Having the robot roll down a street > with two churches on it also may have been a confound. > > They should have tried this on Wall Street but I'm afraid that the > robot would have been "captured" and blown up because of its > "perceived threat". > >> http://www.tweenbots.com/ > > -Mike Palij > New York University > [email protected] > > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly ([email protected]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
