Coming To A Shopping Mall Near You: Panhandling Robots
DON-8r
An indefatigable begging machine on wheels, the very cute DON-8r scoots around as children chase after it with their coins. Kids and adults alike are drawn to its teddy bear appearance and cute voice that grabs their attention with a “Hellooooo!” It says “Thank you” and its head lights up when it receives a coin (one of the kids in the video can’t give it money fast enough!). Built by Tim Pryde, a product design student at the University of Dundee in the UK, DON-8r is used to raise charity for the Dundee Science Center. Its interactive features make for an effective attention and money-getter. Pryde mentioned in his blog that DON-8r raised £25.86 (over $40) in 9 hours.