这是一篇口述文章，基于与费城美术艺术家兼制作师麦迪逊·波利多罗的对话。她与艺术团体“敬畏部”合作，针对城市街头的外卖配送机器人，创作了一款遥控机器人。本文已为篇幅和清晰度进行编辑。
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Madison Polidoro, a fine artist and fabricator based in Philadelphia. She collaborated with the art collective Ministry of Awe to create a remote-controlled robot in response to the delivery robots on the streets of her city. It has been edited for length and clarity.
我第一次看到外卖配送机器人时，脚步猛地停住了。我不知道那东西是什么。我现在还是不完全理解它。我只知道它似乎在盯着我，还跟着我沿街走，把我吓了一跳。所以，想到能做个东西放到街上跟它们“叫板”，真是让人兴奋。
The first time I saw a food delivery robot, I stopped dead in my tracks. I didn't know what this thing was. I still don't fully understand it. All I knew was that it seemed to be looking at me and following me down the street, and it freaked me out. So it was really exciting to think about making something I could put out on the street to rival them.
我是个靠手工制作一切的创作者——不用 AI，甚至不用 3D 建模，主要靠笔和纸。成品是一件会动的艺术品，我给它取名“孔口”，后来它被称为“敬畏机器人”。我的雕塑热爱人类，但她生来就是要给外卖配送机器人生态系统添乱的。
I'm a maker who makes everything by hand — no AI, not even 3D modeling — mostly pen and paper. The result is a moving artwork I named Orifice, which then became known as the Awebot. My sculpture loves people, but she's born to be a menace to the delivery robot ecosystem.
我从小就是雕塑家，做制作师也有十多年了。我不断给我的小生物世界添砖加瓦。2020 年左右，我开始与“敬畏部”合作，这是一个创作沉浸式装置的艺术团体。通过他们的委托创作，我得以实施更宏大的构想、做更大尺度的作品，并融入更昂贵的功能。他们请我做个能移动的东西，好带到街头去。起初我们想得很大，也许做某种花车。
I've been a sculptor since childhood and a fabricator for a little over a decade. I'm constantly adding to my little world of creatures. Around 2020, I started working with Ministry of Awe, an art collective creating an immersive installation. Through their commissions, I've been able to execute more ambitious ideas, work on a larger scale, and integrate more expensive features. They asked me to make something mobile that they could take into the streets. Originally, we were thinking big, perhaps some kind of float.
我们想把艺术带给大众。就在那个时候，我开始在费城看到外卖配送机器人。随后它们变得更常见，尤其是在团体周围。在我们周二的共创之夜，大家一致认为，把雕塑缩小成类似那些机器人的样子更合理。它们是个令人毛骨悚然、古怪的东西，萦绕在每个人心头。作为艺术家和制作师，我感受到要越来越快完成作品的压力。
We wanted to bring the art to the people. Around that same time, I started seeing food delivery robots in Philadelphia. Then they became a more regular occurrence, especially around the collective. At our Tuesday co-creation nights, we agreed it would make more sense to shrink the sculpture into something resembling those robots. They were this freaky, weird thing on everyone's mind. As an artist and fabricator, I feel the pressure to work faster and faster.
科技和人工智能的进步伴随着这些怪异、诡异的感觉，让一切都变得更加强烈，而且不是以一种好的方式。我的艺术作品本身就带有情感上的不适感，所以这完全契合。麦迪逊·波利多罗（@10tonfetus）分享的一则帖子 这是我的第一个科技整合项目。我绝不是什么精通科技的人，所以我真的只是通过看YouTube视频完成了它。
The advancements in tech and AI come with these weird, uncanny feelings that intensify everything, and not in a good way. My art already plays on emotional discomfort, so it was perfectly aligned. A post shared by Madison Polidoro (@10tonfetus) This was my first tech-integrated project. I'm not tech-savvy by any means, so I really just YouTubed my way through it.
我们订购了机器人底盘，包括车轮和马达。在此之上，我搭建了一个铝制框架来容纳内部零件，并为一个具有实用功能的肛门组件创造了一个空腔。从理论上讲，你可以用它来运送食物，尽管这不是它的初衷。你可以在里面放任何东西。我又为皮肤层搭建了一个框架，添加了木头和泡沫塑料，将泡沫塑料削减并雕刻在上面。
We ordered the robotic base, including the wheels and motor. On top of that, I built an aluminum frame to house the internal parts and create a cavity for the functional butthole component. You could theoretically use it for food delivery, although that isn't the intention. You could put anything in there. I built another frame for the skin layer, added wood and foam, carved the foam down, and sculpted onto it.
然后我给它涂层并上漆，创造出这个耐天气的、塑料感和橡胶质感的生物。里面有硅胶组件，包括舌头和孔洞。我还把我的朋友妮娜的头发放了进去。我艺术作品中的所有头发都是真的。朋友们把它送给我，或者在Instagram上关注我的人把它邮寄给我。对我来说，这是一种为它们注入生命和人性色彩的仪式。NO SHORTS（@noshortsusa）分享的一则帖子 Awebot的眼睛和车轮是通过遥控操作的。
Then I coated and painted it, creating this weather-resistant, plasticky, rubbery creature. There are silicone components, including the tongue and orifice. I also put my friend Nina's hair in there. All the hair in my art is real. Friends give it to me, or people who follow me on Instagram mail it to me. For me, it's a ritual to breathe life and humanness into them. A post shared by NO SHORTS (@noshortsusa) Awebot's eyes and wheels are operated by remote control.
这个艺术集体有一名员工负责带她出去并开着她四处转悠。这是一次非常有趣的即兴体验。会发生什么取决于公众。有些人与她进行了完整的互动。孩子们走近她。狗走近她。人们拍照。有时我们会看到送货机器人，并让它们进行对决。这种情况已经发生过好几次了。在我看来，它们似乎把她当作障碍和威胁，非常努力地闪躲并想逃离她。
The collective has an employee who takes her out and drives her around. It's a really fun improv experience. What happens depends on the public. Some people have a whole interaction with her. Kids come up to her. Dogs come up to her. People take photos. Sometimes we see delivery robots and have them face off. That has happened a couple of times. To me, they seem to treat her as an obstacle and as a threat, trying very hard to dodge her and get away.
我想把这种广为人知的技术拿来，做一些平易近人、能让人想要与之互动的东西。一些充满好奇、有趣且滑稽的东西。该艺术集体的概念是一家以人类情感和想象力为流通货币的银行。一切都是手工制作的。
I wanted to take this recognizable piece of technology and make something approachable that people would want to interact with. Something curious, fun, and silly. The collective's concept is a bank where human emotion and imagination are the currency. Everything is handmade.
你可以看到它，也能感受到它。我认为这座雕塑捕捉到了这一点：将这个日益资本化世界中的种种想法，重新拨回至我们的人性和创造性需求之中。我设计她是带着继续该项目的计划的。她可能很快就会迎来“兄弟姐妹”。
You can see it and feel it. I think this sculpture captures that: taking ideas from this increasingly capitalized world and dialing them back into our humanity and creative needs. I designed her with plans to continue the project. She may soon see siblings.