The Autonomous robot was the first self thinking robot I attempted to create. It is a robot that has to run into walls to know when to change direction. Thinking that this would be annoying, I programmed the robot to become annoyed every time it collided with the wall. It was part of a self directed study at OCAD where I had three months to make an electronic artwork.

Autonomous Robot from Jessica Field on Vimeo.

This robot showed me the magic of electronics. The robot was very simple. I used a 555 timer with a photocell input to control how the robot's audio response would sound. I then placed the photocell under the fan so that the way the robot spoke was always changing. Knowing nothing about electronics and the evil properties of noise. My robot when over stimulated (Knocked into too many walls) would turn indefinitely making noise that was dynamic due to the readings from the photocell. When I whacked the bumper, the robot would blip at me and continue on its way, tantrum forgotten. Seeing these convincing behaviours not programmed by me led to the addiction of making robots.