Urban Critters: Robot companions that follow a child’s curiosity

Children used to wander. In 1971, most seven-year-olds in England walked to school on their own. By 1990, fewer than one in ten did. Cities were built for cars, and every trip became one an adult has to supervise. The curiosity is still there, but the room to follow it is gone.

Urban Critters gives some of that room back.

A child goes outside and stops to look at a butterfly. She doesn’t type or say anything, because looking is enough. A small flying robot sets off after the butterfly, and a wheeled rabbit stays close to her. Wherever her attention goes next, the companions go along.