The beggar bot arms race has finally begun. In addition to DON-8r we saw earlier on Neatorama, there's another beggin' bot afoot: here's DONA, an "urban donation motivating robot" which looks cute while asking you for alms.
Fast Company has the story:
If robots like DONA became popular, then we would quickly become immune to their charms, and designers would have to step-up the technology--a charity robot arms race with no end in sight. In the future as robots get more sophisticated, one can imagine an evolution of DONA as a more fully-functioned android that actually engages you in conversation to try to persuade you to donate. Already DONA creates some interesting ethical and emotional questions about why we donate to a good cause. Is it due to the cause or because it makes you feel good? How would you feel about giving money to aid a human if asked to do so by a persuasive inhuman machine?