Alice Wang, a recent graduate of RCA, has designed a set of 3 cheeky bathroom scales that ease the ritual of weighing yourself (and maybe dieting, for that matter). In "White Lies," the further back you stand, the lighter you become on the digital display. Comments Wang, "The user can gradually move closer and closer to reality." In her "Half-Truth" scale, your partner becomes responsible for deciding whether to lie or come clean, since the display is on the front face of the device, out of the subject's view. ("Weighing scales can be harmful cause they don't have intelligence to judge when's the right moment to hit you with the truth.") Finally, "Open Secret" reveals your weight every time you weigh yourself by sending a text message to a desired mobile phone. Wang offers that "the receiver is then responsible to reveal the answer immediately, or the next time you two meet."

All of these projects were conceived as a reaction to Isaac Asimov's 1st law of robotics: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. Here's more from the designer:

Artificial intelligence is a topic widely used in the media, however, exactly how far are we from such technology? Are these fears towards robotic developments necessary or purely irrational? What is it about these currently fictional characters that scare us? Are there existing domestic objects that already break this law? Weighing scales, although not performing physical harm, have been subtly damaging us psychologically. Should objects like these exist in a complex society like ours where people are more emotionally fragile?

See this and other work by Alice Wang at her site.