Minglebot
The Minglebot is a robot designed to make friends and influence people. Our robot was made to be put in a building full of strangers, and then try to make everyone friends with one another.
We constructed a checkers-playing teddy bear. He'd move the mouse around while a person at another computer played computer checkers against the bear. Using the checkers game to attract people, the robot asked players about themselves. The answers could be used to find people who had interests in common to try to introduce to one another, so they could become friends.
Minglebot in the making. A stuffed teddy bear, wooden spine, and servos are the main components. After installing these inside the bear, and building him his own little teddy bear desk, he was good to go.
A servo mounted below the desk makes Minglebot appear to operate a computer mouse.
The Qwerk is mounted out of sight below the desk.
Click here for a movie of the Minglebot in action. Minglebots have a lot to teach everyone about making friendly, sociable robots. Come check out the cutest robot ever!