An adorable hitchhiking robot learned the hard way that the streets of Philadelphia are no place for an adorable hitchhiking robot. As Bruce Springsteen once said, in a song actually titled "Streets of Philadelphia," "I was bruised and battered, I couldn't tell how I felt / I was unrecognizable even to myself." This robot was unrecognizable because some punks vandalized it and unceremoniously ended its journey across the United States.
Hitchbot was designed by a group of Ontario engineers to, well, hitchhike and see the world—it can communicate with people because it recognizes human speech, and send updates about its trip through social media. The robot can't move on its own though—which is where people come in: previously, the bot has done trips across Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands. But it didn't fare so well in the gritty Northeast.
Its journey came to an abrupt end after just two weeks on the road, in Philadelphia where it was broken in two. Hitchbot sent this last update:
RIP Hitchbot. You were too good for this world. But according to Verge, the Hitchbot team said they will regroup and update everyone about the project's future next week. Phew! Hopefully next time they'll detour through more boring states.
[via the Verge]
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