Tuesday, August 25, 2020

The Reading Robot


I just had to get out of the house last Sunday so I took a drive around town to see if I could see anything new.  I didn't stay in downtown Phoenix very long because it seemed like every street was under construction in some way.  However I was there long enough to see this great sculpture on the corner of 1st Avenue and Monroe.


It's a robot sitting on a park bench and reading a book.  The artist is Doug Boyd and he said the piece was part of an inspiration he got while hiking on the John Muir Trail in California.  He was about 130 miles into the hike when he realized after checking his phone how connected he was in that great outdoors.  He got to thinking that we will all be rather robot-like with our connections to one another all the time.


He has the robot reading a book because that is something you normally wouldn't see a robot doing.  Robots are full of data storage so reading a book is something that a robot might never have experienced.  The robot has a solar panel on it so that it stores electricity and lights up at night.  I'll have to go back and see that for myself.

15 comments:

Billy Blue Eyes said...

Well robots are intelligent after all

biebkriebels said...

That is a very original sculpture!

Travel said...

I haven't turned my phone on since Saturday. I like the robot.

Andy said...

It looks so strange to see a robot reading.

RedPat said...

That is so unusual, Sharon!

Stefan Jansson said...

Ha, good one.

Catarina said...

Oh! That is so cute.

PerthDailyPhoto said...

Oh I love it Sharon, it is so much fun, well spotted 💜

Bill said...

Very cool, I love it.

Steve Reed said...

That IS fantastic! I like the juxtaposition of the high-tech with the paper book. Thought-provoking.

Revrunner said...

Okay, I'll have to admit, though, that I didn't know robots didn't read. :-)

William Kendall said...

That is marvelous.

Kay said...

What a great find, and what a great story behind it! I'll bet it looks good at night, too.
I use my phone a lot but if I've learned anything during the corona virus it's how much I miss my human connections.

Sami said...

Fabulous sculpture :)

Susie of Arabia said...

I absolutely love this sculpture!