“We are seemingly so different, yet we are all made of the same ‘stuff’.” One night I saw a robot looking out a window as it uttered this, apparently to no one in particular. Not willing to disturb the moment, I said nothing and moved on.
Month: September 2018
Robot of the day: September 25
I overheard a couple of the robots discussing transportation choices and paused to listen. “Why do you ride a bicycle? Is a car not a more practical choice?” “No,” the other robot replied. “Cars require too much infrastructure. With the bicycle, I carry within me all that is needed to make it go.” I nodded to myself in approval and continued on my way.
Robot of the day: September 23
The robot sat on the edge of the dock, a structure made somewhat untrustworthy by time and environment. Tremendous inconvenience, not to mention possible water damage, shimmered under its dangling feet. It was precisely this probability that allowed the robot the focus on isolating signal from noise.
Robot of the day: September 20
I bring you tin whiskers and battery dendrites. I bring you corrupt data packets and loss of signal. All is lost to time.
Robot of the day: September 18
“Please draw something ‘gloomy.’” After a while I turned my sketchbook around, “How about this? Although I prefer to think of this as ‘atmospheric.’” The robot considered this for a moment. “The precipitation is simply thicker atmosphere and has no practical effect.” I countered “What if you have a defective seal?” The robot just stood there, offering no reply.
Robot of the day: September 17
I caught one of the robots in a moment of self-contemplation and had to take a few minutes to sketch out the scene as I remembered it. I never did ask the robot what it was doing, what it was thinking.
Robot of the day: September 16
While they are certainly capable of constructing abstractions of their own, the robots seem to enjoy being the subjects of my drawings. “One day you’ll have to draw me,” I say. The robots look at me without saying anything. Are they gathering data? Mapping the surface of my face? Only time will tell.
Robot of the day: September 15
Upon returning from a randomized perambulation, the robot’s path was intercepted and temporarily paralleled by a cat. After a few minutes the cat angled away down an alley, where it paused, just once, to look back and momentarily regard the robot.
Robot of the day: September 12
The robots: “When we approach a familiar environment from a different vector, we must construct a new map. It is later integrated with existing data, but during mapping, what was once quantified is now unfamiliar.” “I often feel the same way,” I said.
Robot of the day: September 8, part deux
Part of the fun of tabling in an Artists’ Alley is the amazing creative energy that charges the very air. The robots had a neighbor called Ghost Cats (GhostCats.ca). This spurred a discussion amongst the robots about the nature of death and what it might mean for a robot to die. One criteria that popped up early in our discussions was that of loss of signal (LOS). Prior to catastrophic damage or failure, this LOS would prevent the transmission of data. Analogous to “brain death” in mammals. 
Robot of the day: September 8
After sharing my Moomin books with the robots, they became intrigued with Finland’s “crypto-fauna” and embarked on a journey there in search Moomintroll, et al. They recounted a harrowing tale of an encounter with a herd of electrically charged Hattifatteners.
Robot of the day: Rose City Comic Con is a week away!
Rose City Comic Con is next weekend! (September 7-9) Come visit the robots in Artist Alley— there will be loads of awesome local artists there! RoseCityComicCon.com
Robot Of The Day 