This is so cool.

Robots That Survive on Kindness of Strangers
Posted by Nipun Mehta on May 13, 2009

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?

That's the question that impelled Kacie Kinzer to create Tweenbot -- a human-dependent robot that navigates the city the help of pedestrians it counters. 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 because she figured people would abuse 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 it in action:

I saw this, here.