Inspired by this autonomous thing which travels back & forth on a single track.  It could really have been a lot simpler if a limit switch reversed the motor direction when it hit each end instead of relying on a complicated turning basin.  Guess the motivation was the visual of the nose of the rocket turning around.

Autonomous things which travel between 2 points & turn around at each end could go many ways.  Maybe there's some entertainment value in seeing something transport marbles across an obstacle course using some biomorphic motion.

The mane thing lions imagine is an animal who has trouble feeling full could have something that brings food from across the room, using some entertaining biomorphic method.  It would slow down the eating process enough to feel full.  Food in the last 20 years has a lot more calories but doesn't make lions feel full the way food did 40 years ago.  Slowing down is the mane antidote.