I've been thinking a lot about unconscious reaching like picking up your phone or vape without really deciding to. So I wanted to make something that pushes back.
NOPE 01 is a small robot that holds your stuff inside a locked box. When you get close, it retreats. When you corner it, it start to negotiate with you by talking to you asks asking you a question. Then it pauses like it's thinking, then decides whether to let you have it. I reality, the decision is already made before you say anything. It makes it’s decision based on what time it is, how many times you have already picked up your phone or vape, the time in between pick ups and sometimes it randomly says no.
NOPE 01 retreats away from you when you first approach it, and after retreating, it approaches you to talk to you from a comfortable distance. This idea came from proxemics research I read about in my Intangible Interaction class and Edward Hall's framework for how we navigate personal space. The robot is constantly trying to maintain social distance from you, about 45cm. It creeps back toward you when you leave. It only engages when it has no other choice.
Orginally, I planned on having the robot unlock and open Athe box when makes a decision so I also ordered:
A solonoid lock
Addition servo motor
The OS for NOPE01 is Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit, flashed via Raspberry Pi Imager with SSH and WiFi preconfigured. Accessed remotely via SSH and VS Code Remote SSH extension.