Orb Bot
two spider-orb robots loose in a night workshop

What you see on every new tab

Orb Bot puts two small spider-orb robots in a dim robotics lab after hours, one silver with a red eye, one gold with an amber eye. Each has a round shell, a black visor band with a sliding eye, and six telescoping chrome arms with pincers. They walk on three to six arms, roll up into balls and climb the walls and ceiling.

Each has its own energy, curiosity and mischief, and the gold one is the instigator. A planner pairs them up for duets, and a grudge meter keeps score of pokes, stolen balls and stray lasers.

• The lab: A ceiling pipe grid, a workbench with a monitor and mug, a pegboard of tools, a server rack, a sparking welding arm, a parts conveyor, a holo screen, LAB and OPEN neon signs and a swaying work lamp.
• Things to shove: Three crates, a fire extinguisher, an oil drum and a rubber ball. They fling crates, shove them off stacks and knock the mug or tools to the floor.
• Lasers: The eye charges and fires: crates get pushed and scorched, the floor gets marked, and a hit screen, sign, rack or welding arm fizzes or scrambles.
• Duets: Tag, sneak-and-poke, ball passing, rolling the drum, high-fives, handshakes, hugs, piggyback carries, races, mirrored swings, trapeze catches and one flinging the other.
• Grudges: A high grudge means a face-off: a glare, then a shove, a wrestle or a laser standoff; one gloats, one sulks. Afterwards a hug or high-five is likelier.

The lab is drawn on a canvas about 360 pixel rows high and enlarged by a whole number with no smoothing, so every design pixel is a crisp square. Lamp, neon and screen glows are baked once as dithered pixel pools.

What it reacts to

• Mouse: Their eyes track the cursor. Bring it near and a bot pokes at it with a pincer; after three pokes, or with the cursor held still beside it, it rears up with its eye flaring. Whip the cursor past and a bot on the floor tumbles away.
• Music: With music sync on, kicks make them hop and pulse the neon signs, the rack blinks faster, bass squashes their shells and treble brightens their eyes. They dance far more, stepping on the kicks.
• Night: After dusk on Auto the core lays a dark indigo veil over the lab.

Free or Pro?Pro

Ambient New Tab is free to install, with five free themes. Orb Bot is a Pro theme. Pro is $5.99 a month or $39.99 a year, cancel anytime, or $59 once for Pro Forever, and it unlocks every Pro theme, music sync, and every new theme as we release it. You can preview Orb Bot full screen before you buy: open the Themes panel and rest your mouse on it. Changed your mind? 14-day refund, no questions.

How to get it

1. Add Ambient New Tab to Chrome.
2. Open a new tab and click the Themes pill in the bottom-right corner.
3. Pick Orb Bot. Done.

Questions

Which one starts the trouble?

Usually the gold one: its mischief starts higher and builds faster, so it leads most sneak attacks and ball steals. Getting poked, robbed, flung or hit by a stray laser builds a grudge, and a high enough grudge starts a face-off.

Is Orb Bot free?

It is a Pro theme. Pro is $5.99 a month or $39.99 a year, cancel anytime, or $59 once for Pro Forever. It unlocks every Pro theme, music sync, and every new theme as it is released.

What is the drone for?

Now and then a small drone flies in, hovers over one of the bots for 8 to 16 seconds and leaves. It is a favourite laser target; shot down, it spins to the floor trailing smoke and lies there as a wreck for about 70 seconds.

Do they stay on the floor?

No. The room is one loop, floor, right wall, ceiling, left wall, and they walk all of it. They hang from the ceiling on one arm, swing and re-catch, swing Tarzan-style across the room, or drop and land rolled up as a ball.

Does it work on my phone?

No. It's a desktop browser extension for Chrome on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS. If you're reading this on a phone, send yourself the link.

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