Popular hitchhiking robot destroyed in Philadelphia may be revived

The robot was immobile and relies exclusively on kindness of strangers who were generous enough to give him a lift.

HitchBOT started its American journey in mid-July in Massachusetts, with a list of iconic sites to visit and a final destination goal of making it to San Francisco.

A Global Positioning System tracker and an in-built camera that took pictures every 20 minutes would usually relay its location, though its precise whereabouts remain unknown as its battery has run flat.

Now that the robot has been destroyed, fans who followed its story may be sad about its unfortunate end and even Zeller was concerned for the kids who loved hitchBOT’s adventures.

“Unfortunately, hitchBOT was vandalized overnight in Philadelphia”, one of the creators said in a statement.

“If not, we understand… and we may just build ourselves a HitchBot2 to send along on its journey”.

Philadelphia police said on Monday that they will not investigate the vandalism that ended a robot’s hitchhiking trip across the U.S. unless the Canadian universities that own it file a criminal complaint.

HitchBOT had built-in Global Positioning System that helped the researchers keep an eye on its travels, but it apparently carried no other surveillance gear, which meant that its safety was entirely in the hands of strangers who could harm it without much fear of being caught.

According to hitchBot’s official website, the robot was vandalized and badly damage when it found itself in the City of Brotherly Love. “We can’t do anything without a complaint being filed”, said Philadelphia Police spokeswoman Leeloni Palmiero. “Thank you to all my friends”.

Goodnight, sweet prince. HitchBOT, we hardly knew ye.

The robot during happier times road tripping across Germany.

The robot was created by a group based at Ontario’s McMaster and Ryerson universities as part of a social experiment intended, in part, to test human psychology when confronted with technological novelty.

HitchBOT’s co-creators Frauke Zeller and David Smith said Monday that they’ve been overwhelmed with support and offers to revive the robot since it was vandalized beyond fix and left on a street in Philadelphia on Saturday and they are considering rebuilding it.