91av

THROUGHOUT the history of political protest, like-minded folks have come together and taken to the streets. Sometimes, dramatic tactics have helped, like placing flowers in the rifle barrels of National Guardsmen or dressing like Indians to dump English tea into Boston Harbour.

Now, in the 21st century, some modern protesters are finding new ways to grab the public’s attention. After all, sticking flowers in loaded guns is downright dangerous, and tossing tea into a public waterway is, well, just so 18th century, not to mention environmentally inappropriate.

If it’s not safe or effective to send a person, reasons the new breed of activist, why not send a robot instead? “Technology isn’t just the province of the military or those with resources,” says Natalie Jeremijenko, an artist at the University of California, San Diego, and a long-time activist. “It’s a legitimate tool of protest.”

One such tool is Little Brother, a metre-high droid created by the Institute of Applied Autonomy. The IAA is a semi-anonymous collective of techies, which Jeremijenko describes as “the DARPA of dissent”, referring to the US government’s defence research agency. With perhaps more than a touch of satire, IAA follows the military’s lead: sending robots into potentially risky or hopeless situations. Little Brother reports for duty fully equipped and programmed to lurk on street corners handing out subversive literature.

If it sounds scary, it’s not. Little Brother is about as threatening as a toaster. “The robot’s form is based on an exhaustive study of contemporary paradigms of cuteness, such as children, kittens and teddy bears,” says the IAA. The aim is to rally crowds to a cause, or at least get people to take flyers.

And it seems to work. In field observations, the robot’s oversized metal head, big eyes, chubby body and stubby arms endear it to passers-by, who stop to listen to slogans uttered in its high, squeaky voice or accept literature available from a slot in its chest. Sonar sensors tell the droid someone is nearby, allowing it to turn its head to address them directly.

On the institute’s own “cuteness-obnoxiousness scale”, the IAA claims Little Brother averaged 8.6 out of 10, while human activists measured a decidedly less cute 3.2. And nobody threatened to beat up Little Brother, something human activists sometimes get. “The robot connects especially well with children and senior citizens,” says John Henry, an “IAA operative” who gives a false name.

Henry’s colleagues at the IAA say they’re encouraged by Little Brother’s first forays into political protesting. Upgrades are planned, including incorporating a magnetic card reader into the droid’s head so that passers-by can swipe their driver’s licence as a way of electronically signing a petition, or their credit card if they want to buy a bumper sticker.

And Little Brother has already had offspring. The Center for Tactical Magic, an activist group in San Francisco, runs a fleet of remote-controlled half-metre-high protest drones. At their first outing outside the engineering and construction company Bechtel in 2003 they successfully engaged employees who might have avoided confrontations with human protesters, says Aaron Gach of the CTM. “Because people believe in the illusion that technology is neutral, we were able to reach a much greater audience,” he says.

But sometimes things don’t quite go according to plan when unmanned technology is deployed. At a protest in June against the arrest of radical artist Steve Kurtz (91av, 19 June, p 3) one drone steered into a police car. “The drone appeared to have been possessed by some external force and appeared to engage a police car. The cops weren’t quite sure how to respond,” says Gach. “The police went to retrieve the drone, and the drone made a few evasive manoeuvres.” It escaped.

From leafleting, the IAA has moved on to other activities. The group also operates Graffiti Writer, a remote-controlled toy truck armed with cans of spray paint that defaces public property with text messages sent from remote locations. “In nearly 100 per cent of cases, a given agent of the public was willing to participate in high-profile acts of vandalism, given the opportunity to do so via mediated tele-robotic technology,” claims the IAA.

Graffiti Writer has successfully defaced dozens of public sites in the US and Europe, and has only been caught once, shortly after writing “Voting is Futile” on the steps of the US Capitol building in Washington DC, says another IAA operative. On that occasion, the police officers who stumbled across the robot did not seem to realise it was connected to the fresh orange paint nearby and were happy to return the device to IAA members who then came to pick it up.

Or perhaps the cops thought they had no choice. “There are laws and rules dealing with individuals on the street,” Gach says. “To my knowledge there are no laws dealing with robots.” One CTM drone is unfortunately missing in action, with corporate security guards among the chief suspects for its abduction. But so far, no robots have been arrested.

So what kinds of remotely operated tool might be seen at future protests? Well, one graffiti-spraying bike is still locked up in a police evidence room, so that’s possibly not one to look out for (see “Let us spray”). A group called the Bureau of Inverse Technology, based in San Francisco, is promoting a camera-carrying rocket to take headcounts at demonstrations, which might conflict with or corroborate official estimates. So far, no one has taken the group up on their suggestion. “I think people are afraid that setting off a rocket during a big demonstration might scare people or incite violence,” says Jeremijenko, who has worked with the bureau.

As the technology spreads, expect to see more gadgets, gizmos and robots taking to the streets. What exact form they will take is hard to predict, as high-tech collectives remain tight-lipped about their future plans. “They’ve got to maintain the element of surprise,” says Tad Hirsch, a researcher at MIT’s media lab who follows dissent technologies. And it’s no wonder. If the novelty ever wears thin, these activists will be back on the streets putting themselves in the line of fire once again.