A couple of weeks ago we had a robot beggar that asked for change from people who walk past it – by acting like a cute, pet-like robot. Well now we’ve just received word of another donation-collecting robot in town, and this one’s called the DON-8r (pronounced donator). Instead of staying in one spot to beg for donations, DON-8r skitters around in public, collecting money from willing donators.
What makes DON-8r interesting is that it relies on donations to survive – “Each donation not only helps to power DON-8r but also goes directly towards supporting a chosen charity.” It looks like it won’t go very far in a stingy city. However, its creator has been doing some testing recently in Dundee, Scotland and it has been getting great response, both raising money and awareness for Dundee Science Center.
If, and when it goes up for production, the robot can be re-branded to suit different charities, so expect it to be dressed up differently the next time you encounter it in public but first, they’ll need to find a way to prevent people from running off with the whole robot full of donated money. Watch a video of DON-8r testing using interaction in public: