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Geek Programs a Gift-Bot That Just Keeps on Giving

by Warren Riddle on November 10, 2010 at 07:30 AM

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Apparently ignorant of the inevitable robot apocalypse, determined and lonely nerds persistently attempt to create friendly companion droids. Paul Hunkin, a Ph.D. student form New Zealand, has engineered an impressive software bot whose personable and generous capabilities far exceed those of other physical robotic companions, though. Hunkin's cyber-spawn, inspired by an xkcd webcomic, only exists to lavish its creator with frequent gifts.

The script scans eBay for inexpensive products that don't require shipping costs, and then randomly purchases appropriate items. (It even tweets about the sales.) The bot's first purchase was reportedly a package of watch batteries, but -- according to Gawker -- Hunkin "does not own a watch." So, although the bot's intentions are ostensibly kind, it seems Hunkin still needs to address its compulsive shopping addiction (as well as its inherently evil, anti-human agenda).

Tags: ai, bot, bots, PaulHunkin, robot, top, web, xkcd

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