HitchBOT

About

HitchBOT was a non-ambulatory talking robot designed to make a cross-continental trip across Canada entirely by hitchhiking through a relay of road trips. After beginning its maiden journey in July 2014, the robot completed its original mission within a month and continued to travel across parts of Europe and the United States, sending geolocational information from various places en route. In August 2015, the robot was destroyed by unknown vandals in Philadelphia during its cross-continental across the United States.

History

In 2014, Canadian professors Frauke Zeller of Ryerson University and David Harris Smith of McMaster University created HitchBOT as a social experiment to see if the immobile robot could complete a cross-country journey by hitchhiking. Despite its barebone appearance of a cartoon-like robot, HitchBot was equipped with a camera, GPS device and 3G connection to chronicle its journey online in real time, as well as solar panels and a cigarette lighter socket for power sources. In addition, the robot could carry on basic conversation and provide "Wikipedia ":/memes/wikipedia facts to serve as a traveling companion while in vehicle with a driver.

Milestones

• On July 27th, 2014, HitchBOT embarked on its first cross-country journey across Canada from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Victoria, British Columbia; the robot successfully completed its trip of 6753.63 miles (10,868.92 km) in 26 days consisting of 19 rides, arriving at its destination on August 21st.

• In February 2015, HitchBot made its first intercontinental journey to Europe, traveling for days by hitchhiking in the Netherlands and Germany.

• On July 17th, 2015, HitchBOT began its cross-country journey across America from Boston, Massachusetts to San Francisco, California. On August 1st, the trip came to an abrupt end after the robot was found maimed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Online Presence

On April 29th, 2014, the website HitchBOT.me^[3] was launched, which contains information about the robot, blog posts, news articles and a media gallery. In June 2014, a HitchBOT Instagram^[6] feed and Facebook^[2] page were launched, which gathered upwards of 25,400 followers and 105,000 likes in the next two years.

Destruction

On August 1st, 2015, Twitter user @AndreaWBZ^[7] posted a photograph of a destroyed HitchBOT on the ground in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (shown below). In the first 72 hours, the tweet gathered upwards of 500 retweets and 200 favorites.

Surveillance Camera Hoax

On August 3rd, 2015, YouTuber YNGKillers uploaded a video titled “HitchBoy Surveillance Video,” purportedly showing surveillance camera footage of the robot being destroyed by a man while being obscured behind a garbage can (shown below). That day, the tech news blog Gizmodo^[4] published an article titled “Here’s Video of the Jerk Who Killed HitchBOT.”

On August 4th, Gizmodo^[5] reported that the video was likely faked by YouTube pranksters Jesse Wellens and Ed Bassmaster, due to the lack of surveillance cameras at the filming location. While the article speculating the video was a fake, it noted that it was unclear whether the robot had actually been destroyed.

Social Media Presence

In June 2014, a HitchBOT Instagram^[6] feed and Facebook^[2] page were launched, which gathered upwards of 25,400 followers and 105,000 likes in the next two years.

Search Interest

External References