Life and times of the hitchhiking robot before brutal demise
There were high hopes for the hitchhiking robot's American journey, but the bot met an untimely end in The City of Not-So-Brotherly Love sometime overnight on August 2, 2015.
After the chatty bot, depending on the kindness of strangers, traveled through Germany, the Netherlands and Canada, before it took on the U.S.
The bot's trip lasted a mere two weeks making it to Philadelphia, where he met an untimely demise--decapitated and dismembered--on a narrow street in Old City.
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Canada's first hitchhiking robot, hitchBOT visits Quincy Market in Boston at the beginning of it's trans-American journey to San Francisco, July 21, 2015.
The last tweet with a photo of the bot was at 2:39 am on August 1, 2015. Two men reported they took the hitchBOT around Philadelphia and dropped it off at Elfreth's Ally around 3am. The next morning the bot was found destroyed.
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HitchBOT in Boston on July 21, 2015.
The bot was part of a Canadian research project and was created by Dr. David Smith of McMaster University and Dr. Frauke Zeller of Ryerson University.
In all the places the bot visited it would be picked up by people, taken around local attractions, taken home and then dropped off for another adventure elsewhere.
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HitchBOT accomplishes the first bucket list item for its U.S. trip -- visiting Boston's Fenway Park for a baseball game, July 24, 2015. The bonus was starting a wave.
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HitchBOT gets a lift on a suitcase in Boston, July 23, 2015.
HitchBOT had a bucket list for its U.S. journey, including visiting Times Square in New York City, Millennium Park in Illinois and the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
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HitchBOT in Boston, July 23, 2015.
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HitchBOT headed to camp on July 22, 2015.
The bot came to life in Port Credit, Ontario.
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HitchBOT checks out a seal at the aquarium in Boston, July 21, 2015.
The bot posted catalogued its trip, posting photos to Instagram.
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HitchBOT, a hitchhiking robot, sits near the harbor waiting for its first ride as a girl makes her way down to the steps July 17, 2015, in Marblehead, Massachusetts, July 17, 2015.
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Two friendly men give hitchBOT a ride, July 3, 2015.
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From Massachusetts hitchBOT's made it to New York City before moving onto Philadelphia, where it met its demise.
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HitchBOT all set for its trip across the U.S., July 2, 2015.
The bot can't move by itself, but could chat with humans thanks to Cleverscript speech technology, allowing it to answer questions about where it came from and discuss favorite pastimes.
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HitchBOT at Niagara Falls before the trip to the U.S. on July 1, 2015.
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HitchBOT in Lonnekermolen, Holland on June 17, 2015.
The bot took an arts and culture vacation in the Netherlands after hitchhiking across Canada and Germany.
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Canadian embassy staff pose with hitchBOT in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, February 18, 2015.
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HitchBOT holds a sign reading "Neuschwanstein" as he waits for a lift roadside in Munich, southern Germany at the beginning of its German adventure on February 13, 2015.
In Germany, the bot aimed to visit various sites including Neuschwanstein Castle in the South, the carnival in Cologne (West), the North Sea island of Sylt, the eastern city of Goerlitz near the Polish border and the German capital Berlin.
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HitchBOT pilots a plane, February 11, 2015.
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HitchBOT in a canoe in Victoria, British Columbia on February 15, 2015.
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HitchBOT shows off "bits and pieces my friends left on me to remember my great Canadian memories."
The bot charmed its way across Canada with the help and kindness of strangers.
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HitchBOT at Open Space with a Canadian flag, August, 21, 2014.
The bot, a charming robot assembled using household parts, hitchhiked more than 6,000 kilometers across Canada in the summer of 2014 in less than four weeks.
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HitchBOT at First Nations Gathering, August 3, 2014.
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HitchBOT and a young friend watch tv.
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HitchBOT waits to be picked up for the first time, July 27, 2014.
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Dr. Frauke Zeller and Dr. David Smith place their anthropomorphic robot named hitchBOT onto the shoulder of Highway 102 outside of Halifax, Nova Scotia, July 27, 2014.
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HitchBOT and family.