I am so excited! My new machine just arrived today, and in fact, I loved it so much that I bought two of them. You might be wondering what they are and whether you need one too. Are they faster computers? Better-looking switches? An AI-powered guessing keyboard? Infinite-capacity NAS devices? No, they are nothing so trivial.

La Machine—that’s its name—doesn’t concern itself with such mundane matters. This marvel, created by Olivier Mével (Multiplié – check it out here), does not help you work faster. It doesn’t automate anything with AI, optimize bad code, or multiply bread. While it does improve your life, it doesn’t make you look smarter or even smell better. No, it simply exists! Merci, Olivier! I needed this since your bunny, Nabaztag. I loved your bunny at first sight back in 2005 (here). I adore your machine!

If you haven’t given up reading this post yet, you’re probably still wondering what La Machine actually is. And don’t worry; you are not alone in your curiosity.

At first glance, it resembles a modern take on Marvin Minsky’s famous Ultimate Machine, also known as the Useless Box. Invented in 1952 by one of the founding figures of Artificial Intelligence—the real AI, not today’s rubbish LLMs—the original concept was delightfully absurd: a box with a switch. When you turn the switch on, a small mechanical arm emerges from inside the box and turns the switch back off again. That’s it. The perfect machine, don’t you think?

This simple idea became a minor legend among engineers. Many hobbyists built their own versions, usually as a joke or a conversation starter over a cup of tea and biscuits. La Machine starts from the same premise but evolves into something entirely different. It has been designed to exhibit behavior. It moves, makes sounds, and reacts (which reminds me of the bunny; I know, I am fixating). It occasionally seems to have a personality, and no two interactions are exactly the same. This distinction is critical because a useful, useless box is merely a mechanism, while La Machine is much closer to a kinetic sculpture.

As an engineer, I spent most of my time designing systems evaluated by measurable outcomes: performance, reliability, efficiency, cost, power consumption, latency, and throughput, among others. These days, I happily teach the same principles to my students. La Machine deliberately rejects all of those metrics. It exists simply because interacting with it is enjoyable. It reminds me of the Tamagotchi (たまごっち). There is something refreshingly rebellious about a machine whose primary goal is just to surprise you—not as much as Cato Fong surprises Inspector Clouseau, but still surprising!

Whether it is art, a toy, a conversation piece, or simply an over-engineered waste of electronics is probably up to the owner. For me, I’ve decided it is Art! All this, especially the kinetic sculpture aspect, also reminded me of an exhibition I visited at MIT in 2010. I added a few low-quality videos at the end of the post just for you!

Okay, putting my engineer hat back on. I wanted to highlight that the machine’s build quality is remarkable; it’s a beautifully crafted object made in France. However, I do have one regret: it could have been a bit heavier or had grippier feet, so I could push the button without worrying about it tipping over.

Enjoy!

Credits: Wikipedia, multiplié, Marie Cosindas, Dominick Reuter, WIRED, Les Echos, and many others.

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