Beggar: the robotic panhandling proxy

We're bombarded with so many robots each day that most don't even warrant a second glance from us. Soldierbot? Seen it. Nursebot? Ditto. Shoppingbot? Yawn. So when we stumbled upon a wild project called "Beggar (a robot for the materially deprived)," we immediately knew that we'd struck gadget gold. Created by Slovenian designer Saso Sedlacek (there's a bunch of funny accented characters above his name that we don't know how to encode), Beggar is the perfect sidekick for the homeless-on-the-go, who need to multitask just like everyone else now that they're being outfitted with pimped out multimedia shopping carts. In all seriousness, though, Sedlacek assembled Beggar out of junked computer parts to provide a cheap way for the "materially deprived" to retain their dignity while still earning a meager income. One proposed advantage of Beggar over analog panhandling is that it can be set up in places where the homeless are usually forbidden to loiter, such as shopping malls and chichi society events. Those readers catching our posts on those previously-mentioned shopping carts will be disappointed to learn that not only is Beggar still a prototype, its Slovenian pleas for loot would likely go unheeded in about 99.9% of the world.

[Via Robot Gossip]

[Jay @ Jan 17th 2006 5:39PM]

Try this link for encoding European accents:

http://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_entities.asp

Hope it helps.

[Jay @ Jan 17th 2006 5:45PM]

Try this link for encoding European accents:

http://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_entities.asp

Hope it helps.

[Jvijil @ Jan 17th 2006 6:03PM]

If a begger is begging for money where the hell is he gonna get 1000 or more dollars to buy a robot?

[Alcaron @ Jan 17th 2006 6:07PM]

We need to officially make designers get a job.

They clearly have far too much time on their hands, and have clearly decided that being productive with that time is not on the ToDo list.

eesh, I love the part about these going where beggars can't.

Like these beeping blurping annoyances won't be banned too? Only now you loose the "pity" factor that garners so many donations. "No no, don't give him any money, you know he's just going to waste it on cheep capacitors and LED's from his junky friends".

[srw @ Jan 17th 2006 6:08PM]

Robot bum-fights!

[Alcaron @ Jan 17th 2006 6:10PM]

p.s.: #2, I appreciate the irony that a post linking to w3schools would fail to close the link properly. :)

(or its the fault of this craptastic new comment system)

[Phil @ Jan 17th 2006 6:18PM]

DUDE! You just officially coined the term "analog panhandling". I googled and nothing, so you're the first. Awesome!

[kevin @ Jan 17th 2006 6:53PM]

Reminds me of the Futurama commentary when they talk about homeless robots, that since all robots are built and programmed, someone built a robot with the purpose of it being homeless.

[Jason @ Jan 17th 2006 6:58PM]

I should hang out on a street corner in Slovenia and beg for one of these robots.

[tempusmaster @ Jan 17th 2006 6:59PM]

Very funny! As an art project or social commentary.

The article comments - "... shopping malls - where it is forbidden to beg... at least for people."

Then at the end of the article you discover the project was - "... supported by the Ministry of Culture and the Municipality of Ljubljana - Culture Department." Which seems like just one government agency poking fun at another.

[David @ Jan 17th 2006 7:06PM]

I'd be all to tempted to steal one of those if I saw it unattended in public. I know i'm a terrible person, but I can't keep the door closed when opportunity knocks.

[Russ @ Jan 17th 2006 9:19PM]

i'm surprised we didn't see loads of these after the dotcom crash..

[Andrey @ Jan 17th 2006 10:00PM]

When I was in college, we built a similar robot. Ours approached people and asked for change; if the person put in change into the coin pan, the robot did a dance and sang... although since it had wheels, it was mostly a matter of spinning around in amusing ways while playing back "singing" of one of a set of pre-recorded songs.

Plus, we made a cardboard face for ours that made it look like a 70 year old man with a big bushy beard.

It's good to se more beggar robots... even if it means that they're taking the jobs away from the "real" American beggars... it's the wave of the future, pops... get used to it!

[TheCash @ Jan 17th 2006 10:03PM]

Finally, I bum I can trash without fear of winding up on the nightly news.
Give me a crowbar and I could re-enact that tear jerking scene from Short Circuit 2 where Number 5 gets e-mugged.

[Gopal @ Jan 18th 2006 3:32AM]

It's good to see technological advancement to eradicate Beggarism.

Long live the technologist and the idea generators!!!

[Zex_Suik @ Jan 18th 2006 10:02AM]

That's it! I'm taking my old Robosapien and strapping him up with a cup and a sign that says "Outdated - Please Help"

Then when business gets slow I'll have my new Robosapien walk over and knock him down while RoboPet pees on him.

That's right... I said it... peeing robots...

[Jay @ Jan 18th 2006 10:19AM]

Here:

http://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_entities.asp

[W @ Jan 18th 2006 11:00AM]

Finally I can kick the beggars who grab my pant leg without the side of guilt that inevitably follows. Fantastic product the I-beg. I'm surprised it doesn't have a PMP inside it since they're putting them in everything.