It's a trip!: Shhh...the furniture is listening!

10 June 2005

Shhh...the furniture is listening!

(courtesy of the bbc)

The city of Cambridge has unveiled new benches and garbage bins in a square in the city centre.
They are solar powered and have their own personalities...

"Robotic bins that move and chuckle, benches that flock together and sing when the sun comes out, have been unleashed in Cambridge."
"They are what's called "generative" so that over time they develop more and more personality.
"You'll find that one bench may be particularly attracted to a particular bin. They will chuckle and giggle sometimes or make rude noises."

Hmm... I wonder what would happen if you tried to squeeze out a quiet one while sitting on one of the benches? Or what if they start making "rude noises" while you're sat there?
"Uh, dude, that was the bench"
"Yeah, sure, whatever!"

And really, I'm insecure enough without having a garbage can LAUGHING at me!

I guess I'll have to stay away from Cambridge...

posted by Julie at 2:50 PM 4 comments

4 Comments:

Lora said...: How freaky! It makes me think of Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide and his robots with real people personalities.

Hope your headache goes away.; Fri Jun 10, 07:25:00 PM GMT+1
carpediemtomorrow said...: I think this idea should be terminated.....can you imagine walking around the city and your baby has an ice cream......"Excuse Me, He's dropping it....excuse Me....EXCUSE ME....exterminate!

Get well soon Honey, we all love you; Fri Jun 10, 07:31:00 PM GMT+1
eyes_only4him said...: that is kinda creepy...stay away from there...I repaet..stay away from the trash cans...lol; Fri Jun 10, 08:38:00 PM GMT+1
Jen said...: Um, don't they have anything better to do with that money? Plus, as we all know from watching crappy sci fi, it's only a matter of time before the benches and bins turn against us.; Fri Jun 10, 09:40:00 PM GMT+1