Marie Caye

CumLaude

Prizes: Rene Smeets Award Nominee, Melkweg Award Winner

Department: Food Non Food
Website: mariecaye.com

SAM

Meet SAM. If you ask him for a soda, he will calculate the costs and – after payment – will pour you a drink that he produces all by himself from water kefir grains. SAM is a Symbiotic Autonomous Machine that is able to intelligently manage recipes, prices, maintenance, service and labour. This robot produces at cost, reimburses debt and pays bills as a single economic entity. Yet SAM has no legal status. With its creation, Marie Caye shows that machines already have the capacity to be autonomous, even though we are hesitant to trust them. Why not give them a legal status as a starting point for a trustworthy, collaborative relationship? It may lead to many good things; a cheap, cool and refreshing drink for example.