Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Robofinger

Push that button
 
(0)
 

This robot knows (at first only) how to press the light switch.

It is developed in Israel and sold to orthodox (but not ultra orthodox) Jews helping them use the elevator, turn off the lights and the air conditioner, and other simple single button based actions, prohibited on Shabbat.

The interface is simple: You say Push that Button, it asks 'Which?'. You point to the button, and that button gets pushed.

In Shabbat mode (set by pushing a button on Robofinger's bellybutton) it looks at you attentively from its crouching position in the basket with its big watery and cute eyes, and waits for you to gesture with your eyebrows twice in some direction. Immediately it pounces into action, looking back at you to see if it understood the hint. (Your not allowed to tell it explicitly what to do).

Later versions do phone testing, disc on key insertion or removal (with the two finger version), and scratch your back while waiting for AI to get better at doing what its doing.

pashute, Jan 21 2026

Baked Aug 1, 2013 Wired Mag https://www.wired.com/2013/08/tapster/
[pashute, Jan 22 2026]





       Turns out its not such a bad idea, and therefor its baked!!!!
pashute, Jan 22 2026
  
         


 

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