Beggar Robot is a robot for the materially deprived and is constructed entirely from old computer hardware and a few spare parts that were obtained at no cost. As a low-tech, friendly device, it advocates three main ideas in contemporary activism. It is (A) a surrogate agency created for a world in which the marginalized such as impoverished individuals and families, refugees and asylum seekers, elderly people, disabled people, and those hidden from the public view, will never step onto the street to beg, except in the most dire of circumstances. The robot has access to areas normally off-limits to beggars, such as shopping malls and community events, where the richer members of society more often frequent. The hypothesis is that this part of society is only able to show some sympathy towards the marginalized if they communicate from a safe distance and via a technological interface. The project tests and exploits the advantages of robotic interface by bringing his Beggar Robot to public spaces in different countries and adapting it to the local context and local language, to beg in the name of the poor. The project is both a social experiment and a low-key, humourous charity action, which raises public awareness of invisible deprivation and possible remedies. As a machine built out of computer parts recycled from the ever-growing electronic junkyards, the robot (B) also bears an environmental consciousness for a world dominated by the ideology of endless development. Moreover, the robot (C) advocates the concepts of open source and do-it-yourself tactics and their consequences for social action, by allowing people to freely make their own copy of the robot. Anyone interested in obtaining the instructions of how to build their own robot replica can leave a contact with the robot, or go to the artist's website.

The Beggar robot is above all the messenger of the news that too much of the world is getting poorer not richer and that's unfortunately bad news for us all. Beggar 2.0 is a robot for the materially deprived which is made of old electronics and computer spare parts. The original 1.0 was tested in Slovenian shopping malls where it is forbidden to beg, but no such rule was made for robots. The experiment showed that richer part of society shows more sympathy towards the marginalized groups if they communicate from a safe distance and via technological interface.

The new upgrade version of Beggar robot made at IAMAS institute in Japan was tested in the beginning of July on Tokyo streets where begging isn't really a frequent phenomena and where interface communication is ubiquitous. The new version runs on Linux (written by Yu Fukui) and will be soon available on this web site for anyone to download the program and copy the robot.
(source: artist's website http://www.sasosedlacek.com)