Hitchhiking robot’s cross-country trip in U.S. ends in Philly

One of the first of its kind, the hitchBOT, a hitchhiking robot that can become a potential traveling companion is apparently damaged beyond fix which marks the end of its first tour across the United States. The hitchBOT team noted they would not publish the final photo of the vandalized robot in order to protect the young children who would be upset at the hi tech traveler’s demise. Though there were fears of hitchBOT being destroyed or kidnapped along its unaccompanied journey, its creator says that the robot reached the West Coast relatively unscathed.

And now, it’s where an adorable robot who was only counting on the kindness of strangers to hitchhike across the country was vandalized, effectively ending his summer trip.

HitchBOT had successfully traveled across Canada in 26 days past year.

It had its thumb up and a tape around its cylindrical head reading: “San Francisco or bust”. The Canadian creators are yet to confirm, as they can’t track its location since the battery is dead/stolen.

Travelling circuit… A couple embrace as Dan Winske wheels hitchBOT through the stands before a baseball game at Fenway Park between the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigerson.

Its camera was programmed to take photographs approximately every 20 minutes as a way of further recording some details of its adventures. Additional travels took the robot to European sites such as Germany and the Netherlands. It once spent a week with a heavy metal band.

hitchBOT in front of the Rocky Balboa statue.

From a scientific point of view, Hitchbot’s progress showed not only the relevance of social media but also that the field of human-robot interaction goes beyond just physical interaction: it is also the personality, communication abilities and ability to actively shape the interaction that seems to invite people to trust a robot and to be willing to engage with it. I guess sometimes even bad things happen to good robots!

“We know that many of hitchBOT’s fans will be disappointed, but we want them to be assured that this great experiment is not over”.