2017-02-27 
 
 Maeci 
 
 Imagine a shy robot. 
 
 The Italian artist Norma Jeane worked with a team of engineers to design a robot that they subsequently liberated in Palm Desert. 
 
 This robot has no function in the traditional sense. It does not serve us; it probably will not enslave us (perhaps only our imagination). Instead, this robot is programmed to run. To run immediately, with nervous electric heartbeat, in the opposite direction as soon as it senses the presence of a human being. 
 
 Shyness is considered a trait unique to the human condition — no animals, let alone machines, can be ever be shy. The story goes that shyness is a reflection of our self-consciousness, of our uncertainty about who we are in relationship to a world made up of other uncertain beings. As humans we are condemned to be free: there are no moral supports, no justifications, and no algorithms on which we can base our decisions. We must make and remake our significance within that world, constantly and from moment to moment. 
 
 This is why Norma Jeane stages Scene with ShyBot as liberation. 
 
 The ShyBot, equipped with a camera, transmits to The Lab a live stream of its point-of-view – a view based on an algorithm designed precisely to evade the human perspective. This is Norma Jeane’s fantasy of the desert sublime: the machine is let loose in the landscape, free of the human determinism that thus far framed its existence, and we, in turn, are free to imagine a world liberated from the indeterminacy of us. 
 
 Norma Jeane (the artist) was born when Marilyn Monroe (the movie star) died: in the night between August 4th and 5th, 1962. By taking possession of somebody else’s personal data, renouncing a specific gender, and creating a proliferation of personalities, NJ is an artist without a body, and therefore without a personal biography that extends beyond his/her artistic curriculum. Norma Jeane’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitons worldwide including MoMA, P.S.1 and Swiss Institute, New York; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Helmhaus, Zurich; Frieze Project, London; Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt; Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin; Culture Station 284, Seoul; Galleria Continua, Beijing; Biennale de Lyon, Venice Biennale, and Liverpool Biennial. 
 
 Norma Jeane: Scene with ShyBot is curated by Marina Pugliese and Dena Beard, and is a collaboration between The Lab and the Italian Cultural Institute of San Francisco, with support of Desert X and CODAME ART+TECH. 

 ShyBot was designed by Italian artist Norma Jeane and a team of engineers from Codame for the DesertX art exhibition, in collaboration with the San Francisco Italian Cultural Institute. In her artist statement, Jeane said the robot is "based on an algorithm designed precisely to evade the human perspective." So, from February 27th to March 4th, the six-wheeler evaded as well as it could, roaming the Coachella Valley in an effort to hide from everybody. ShyBot was so anti-social that it even avoided the drones used to film its adventure if they got too close. 
 
 As the autonomous, solar-powered rover traversed the California desert, it was tracked in real time using GPS technology, curious viewers can revisit the whole journey here. While Shybot avoided being seen, it did have a camera that transmitted its point of view to San Francisco art gallery The Lab for an exhibition called "Norma Jeane: Scene with ShyBot." We're sure it hated the attention, even from afar. 
 
 The sad irony is, that we've never wanted to hug a robot more. Still, at least we don't have to worry about this one eventually enslaving humanity in a merciless machine uprising. 

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 Screenshot by Aloysius Low/CNET 
 
 If all robots were like ShyBot, then we sure wouldn't have to worry about Skynet and Judgement Day. 
 
 Made by Italian artist Norma Jeane as an art piece for the Desert X Art Biennale, ShyBot is a robot that's useless at doing anything except running away from humans. 
 
 Set loose in a desert for six days, it tries its very best to escape the eyes of its human overlords, not knowing they have tagged the poor thing with a GPS tracker. 
 
 Jeane's art piece is meant to explore the concept of shyness in humans, which isn't present in animals, according to Jeane, and has to do with self consciousness. Jeane says humans are "condemned to be free," forced to create our own significance in the world, but this robot has been "liberated" by being programmed with an algorithm for the specific goal of avoiding human contact. Right. 
 
 So if this robot starts chasing after you, it's probably because it's gained sentience and has overcome its shyness. In which case, you should be the one who runs away. 
 
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– Finally, a robot for people who don't like parties, order all their meals online, and haven't made direct eye contact in 18 months. Motherboard reports an Italian artist has created a rover that's solely programmed to avoid human contact. In an artist's statement, Norma Jeane admits ShyBot, as her robot is fittingly called, has "no function in the traditional sense." The solar-powered ShyBot was created with help from the engineers at CODAME for the DesertX art exhibition, Engadget reports. Then it was released into California's Sonoran desert. "The machine is let loose in the landscape, free of the human determinism that thus far framed its existence, and we, in turn, are free to imagine a world liberated from the indeterminacy of us," Jeane says. ShyBot spent the next six days, ending last weekend, avoiding any sign of humans while sending live video to an art gallery in San Francisco, CNET reports. The rover was followed by aerial drones, which it also tried to avoid. You can follow ShyBot's journey, courtesy of a GPS tracker, here. Motherboard states ShyBot is an interesting experiment in a time when most engineers are building robots to better socialize with humans. Meanwhile, Engadget confesses it's "never wanted to a hug a robot more." Of course, ShyBot would hate that.