At the age of seven, Éric Baudelaire participated in laboratory experiments designed to investigate the existence of telekinesis, the ability to move objects using the power of one’s mind. The experiments used a tychoscope, from the Greek tycho for chance and scope to see, a tin-can-sized robot that ‘makes chance visible’ by drawing random patterns on paper. During half-hour sessions, human participants were instructed to “bring the tychoscope towards them with their thoughts” and influence the drawings it made. These specimens were then compared to control drawings made without human subjects in the room, to see if they deviated from pure chance and potentially demonstrated the existence of telekinetic phenomena.