Friday afternoon walking back the parking lot of the performing arts center, I cut through the section of campus with the student dorms. Walking down the sidewalk I saw up ahead a robot making its way towards me. It was one of those "cooler on wheels" designed for delivery of food and other things. It was my first time seeing one in the wild.
As it approached me, I stayed on my side of the sidewalk. When it was about ten feet from me on the other side, I waved to it and said "hello there!" On its side was a sticker than said "I deliver to Sun Devils."
Whether it was this greeting with a wave, or my general look, I startled the poor thing, which stopped dead in its tracks as if I had interrupted deep in thought. It slightly backed up as if to look at me and then popped in pace, as if to say, "well, I will be on my way now," and then it proceeded past me with a low whirring noise.
All in all it was a pleasant encounter. One thing that is pattern in my life is that people are generally friendly to me. Now I can add robots to this list as well.
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