Digital artist Beeple — the guy who sold an NFT for $69 million back when that was a thing people did — has an exhibit up at Node Foundation on University Avenue in Palo Alto. The concept: robots equipped with lidar and cameras observe the space around them, process what they "see," and produce original art prints on the spot. The technical term for this output, according to the exhibit's framing? They "poop" the art.

We're not making this up.

Details are thin on the ground — it's unclear how long the exhibit runs or how exactly the prints get distributed to visitors — but the concept is genuinely interesting if you can get past the scatological branding. There's a real question buried in here about machine perception and creativity: if a robot processes visual data and generates something aesthetically novel, is that art? Or is it just a very expensive printer with legs?

As one Bay Area resident put it: "Is this the same Elon robot they had run around SF?" (It is not, but the confusion is understandable when you live in a region where humanoid robots showing up in public spaces is becoming alarmingly normal.)

From a fiscal perspective, we'll note that Node Foundation is a private operation — no taxpayer dollars being funneled into robot bowel movements, as far as we can tell. And that's exactly how experimental art should work: privately funded, voluntarily attended, and weird enough to make you think.

If you're in the South Bay and curious, swing by University Ave. Worst case, you get a free print. Best case, you witness the moment machines finally master the one bodily function Silicon Valley hadn't yet tried to disrupt.