This mechanical being is Master Mind, a fascinating robot built by Kal Spelletich of San Francisco kinetic art group Seemen. Kal created Master Mind as artist-in-residence at the Exploratorium: The Museum of Science, Art, and Human Perception. When I took my two-year-old son to the Exploratorium, Master Mind was thronged by swarms of children (including my son) who were entranced by its insectoid motions and monitor-head that displays the face of whomever is gazing directly at the robot's mug. Master Mind reacts to the motions of those in its vicinity, but at its recent coming out party, it responded to people's "thoughts" as captured via EEG. (At a Dorkbot-SF event a few years ago, a dog controlled one of Kal's mobile robots via EEG.) Kal told me that he's currently fine-tuning the EEG system so that it can be user friendly and robust enough to become a permanent part of the exhibit. I'd love to see what Master Mind will do once it's receiving transmissions from my son's brain.
Link to the Exploratorium, Link to Seemen
