HNGN first reported about the robot called hitchBot in June last year as it was about to begin an unusual objective: to traverse Canada, hitchhiking on its own. It cannot walk and must rely on sheer charisma to be invited in the backseat. The next series of stories chronicled the robot getting its first ride, then, the successful completion of the trek that covered 3,870 miles. hitchBot then continued its caper in Europe, successfully hitchhiking its way across Germany and parts of the Netherlands. This July, it finally began its U.S. tour, starting in Boston with a goal of reaching San Francisco. hitchBot never made it, however, as he was destroyed in Philadelphia last weekend.
Data retrieved from the robot showed that it was vandalized while waiting for the next ride. YouTube celebrity Jesse Wellens and his friend Ed Bassmaster were the last people to pick it up. The robot's live map indicates it was last seen around Elfreth's Alley and 2nd Street, where Wellens and Bassmaster left it.
"The head, as far as we know, is missing," said David Smith, McMaster University professor and co-creator of hitchBOT, in an interview with CBC News. Later reports would also reveal that some electronics were gone while its arms were ripped off.
hitchBot is a social experiment, designed to understand robot-human interaction. "Usually, we are concerned whether we can trust robots ... but this project takes it the other way around and asks: can robots trust human beings?" said Frauke Zeller from Ryerson University in the previous HNGN report.
The robot was designed with a rudimentary AI technology equipped with speech recognition and processing abilities, along with Wikipedia database and conversational dialogue models to enable it to talk to people.
Throughout its adventure, hitchBot has amassed many fans, who tracked its progress in the website, www.hitchbot.me. Many of these expressed outrage in social media after the vandalism was announced.
It is not yet known whether the robot will be repaired or it will continue its U.S. tour.
"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. For now we will focus on the question 'what can be learned from this?' and explore future adventures for robots and humans," the team behind hitchBot told Gizmodo.
