HitchBOT completes journey across Canada

Do ya remember that Canadian Robot that hitchhiked across Canada last year? (It was a social experiment, and the tiny robot went all the way across Canada, and then Europe, with the help of friendly people along the way!)

PHOTOS | HitchBOT completes journey across Canada


BUT, NOT SO MUCH WHEN THEY TRIED THIS EXPERIMENT IN THE UNITED STATES, KIDS. -Ed

First it couldn't get a ride out of New York City, and then they put it in Philadelphia instead!

The friendly Canadian hitchhiking robot  met its untimely end on the hard streets of Philadelphia.,

But it might be given another chance at life!

HitchBOT's co-creators say there have been offers of support and offers to revive the child-sized robot since it was destroyed early Saturday .........., and they are considering rebuilding it.

• HitchBOT to start U.S. journey
• HitchBOT returns from German adventure with souvenirs, stories

The robot was on a hitchhiking adventure in the U.S. after successful ventures in Canada last year and parts of Europe that saw strangers help hitchBOT travel from place to place while checking items off its bucket list.

This time, hitchBOT was dismembered before it could complete its goals — which this time included taking a selfie with the Hollywood sign and seeing the house from Pixar's "Up."

A photo reportedly showing what was left of the destroyed robot was posted on Twitter on Saturday night.

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Franke Zeller of Ryerson University and David Smith of McMaster University created hitchBOT and kept its adventures going as a social experiment with a number of their students.

Zeller said many people have reached out with offers to rebuild hitchBOT, and her team will make a decision on whether or not they will bring the robot back to life in coming days.

 © The Canadian Press, 2015 

 

 HitchBOT starting his journey!

• Hitchbot has high tea at the Empress hotel in Victoria, B.C., on Aug. 18, 2014. Canada‘s most famous — and only — beer cooler-turned-hitchhiker completed its 6,000-kilometre journey across Canada, bumming rides all the way from Halifax, N.S. (Chad Hipolito/Canadian Press)
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• Hitchbot has high tea at the Empress hotel in Victoria, B.C., on Aug. 18, 2014. Canada‘s most famous — and only — beer cooler-turned-hitchhiker completed its 6,000-kilometre journey across Canada, bumming rides all the way from Halifax, N.S. (Chad Hipolito/Canadian Press)

Hitchbot, Canada's most famous hitchhiking robot, arrives in a cedar canoe with Songhees Nation members for a traditional Coast Salish at Victoria's inner harbour. (Chad Hipolito/Canadian Press)

 HitchBOT, the hitchhiking robot, has passed the halfway point in its journey across Canada on on Aug. 5, 2014. Here, hitchBOT poses next to a rock cut on Highway 17 north of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. (Kenneth Armstrong/Reuters)

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• Hitchbot has high tea at the Empress hotel in Victoria, B.C., on Aug. 18, 2014. Canada‘s most famous — and only — beer cooler-turned-hitchhiker completed its 6,000-kilometre journey across Canada, bumming rides all the way from Halifax, N.S. (Chad Hipolito/Canadian Press)
• Hitchbot, Canada's most famous hitchhiking robot, arrives in a cedar canoe with Songhees Nation members for a traditional Coast Salish at Victoria's inner harbour. (Chad Hipolito/Canadian Press)
• HitchBOT at home with its research team in an undated photo taken in Port Credit, Ont. HitchBOT was brought to life to “explore topics in human-robot-interaction and to test technologies in artificial intelligence and speech recognition and processing,” the researchers said in a news release. (Ryerson University/Canadian Press)
• Beach-goers examine the robot at Harmony Beach, north of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., on Aug. 5. HitchBot is part of a social experiment to see if strangers will help it complete its 6,000-kilometre journey from Halifax to Victoria. (Kenneth Armstrong/Reuters )
• HitchBOT gets a lift from Belgian tourists Kim Van Aerde, left, and Seb Leeson in Sault Ste. Marie on Aug. 5. David Harris Smith, an assistant professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, came up with the idea of creating a collaborative art project centred around a hitchhiking robot. (Kenneth Armstrong/Reuters)
• Anne Saulnier, right, watches as her husband Brian buckles up hitchBOT after picking it up on Highway 102 outside of Halifax on July 27. The robot has a child booster seat built into its backside, which allows it to be buckled in. (Paul Darrow/Reuters)
• HitchBOT was built by communications researchers at Ryerson University in Toronto and McMaster University in Hamilton. Frauke Zeller and David Harris Smith place hitchBOT onto the shoulder of Highway 102 outside of Halifax on July 27. (Paul Darrow/Reuters)
• ‘It's made of things you might be pitching out of your garage on a Saturday morning to sell to your neighbours,’ says David Harris Smith. About the size of a six-year-old child, it was made using pool noodles, an old bucket, rubber boots and gloves, solar panels and a computerized ‘brain.’ (Paul Darrow/Reuters)
• Drivers who stop have to physically lift hitchBOT into their vehicles and buckle it in. If hitchBOT's power runs out while waiting for its next ride, written instructions on its body tell people how to strap it into the car and plug it in. The robot also carries directions to a help website. (Submitted by David Harris Smith)
• HitchBOT is powered with solar panels covering the beer cooler bucket that makes up its torso, and can also be recharged from car cigarette lighters or a regular outlet. (Paul Darrow/Reuters)
• HitchBOT is programmed to recognize speech and has text-to-speech software installed. It listens for keywords and tries to respond appropriately. HitchBOT is also equipped with GPS and 3G wireless connectivity that allows it to post updates of its position on the internet. (Submitted by David Harris Smith)
Let this be a lesson for you boys and girls, NEVER GO HITCHHIKING IN THE UNITED STATES!