This Must Be The World’s Saddest Robot

Robots are advancing in all sorts of directions technologically, be it becoming more human (and arguably creepier), to learning Asimov’s three laws the painful way. But how are they developing metaphysically? Don’t worry, there’s this little guy, called “Plotclock”, handling that. Its task: To scribble the current time onto a small whiteboard, erase it and repeat. Forever.

The description for the project over at Thingiverse states the robot’s purpose as simply “A clock that plots time.” But it’s far more existential than that. There’s something both fascinating and disconcerting about watching Plotclock write out the hour, make two dots for a colon and then scribe out the minutes, only to rub them out seconds later.

If you take perverse joy in binding electronic creations into pointless, eternal servitude, it’s possible to build this little guy yourself, if you can get a hold of the right components… and don’t mind relinquishing your soul.

[YouTube, via The Awesomer]