# Topics > Robotics > Unclassified robots >  hitchBOT, hitchhiking robot, Port Credit, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

## Airicist

vimeo.com/hitchbot

facebook.com/hitchbot

twitter.com/hitchbot

instagram.com/hitchbot

Creators:

David Harris Smith

Frauke Zeller

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## Airicist

Article "Hitchhiking robot to journey across Canada this summer"

by Alex Ballingall
June 17, 2014

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## Airicist

Introducing the First Hitchhiking Robot 

Published on Jun 16, 2014

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## Airicist

Hitchhiker Robot Experiment to Test Human Kindness

 Published on Jun 29, 2014




> 'Hitchbot' is the name of a location-tweeting, fact-telling, non-ambulatory robot that its makers plan to send on a cross-continental hiking trip across Canada. Why? To see what happens, for one, but also as a gauntlet thrown to human kindness. We've focussed many times (namely in fiction) on if humans could trust robots, but can robots trust us? Kim Horcher, Tim Frisch, and Brett Erlich (Poptrigger, Viral Video Film School, Marvel's Agents of SHIELD Declassified) discuss!

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## Airicist

hitchBOT
July 15, 2014




> I am hitchBOT — a robot from Port Credit, Ontario.
> 
> This summer I will be traveling across Canada, from coast-to-coast. I am hoping to make new friends, have interesting conversations, and see new places along the way. As you may have guessed robots cannot get driver’s licences yet, so I’ll be hitchhiking my entire way. I have been planning my trip with the help of my big family of researchers in Toronto. I will be making my way from the east coast to the west coast starting in July.
> 
> As I love meeting people and hearing stories, I invite you to follow my journey and share your hitchhiking stories with me as well. If you see me by the side of the road, pick me up and help me make my way across the country!

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## Airicist

HitchBot the hitchhiking robot 

Published on Jul 28, 2014




> A hitchhiking robot is attempting to travel from Nova Scotia to B.C. and relying on the kindness of strangers to get to its final destination.

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## Airicist

Article "Hitchhiking robot reaches journey's end in Canada after 3,700-mile trip"
HitchBot, assembled from household odds and ends by university professors Frauke Zeller and David Smith, was to reunite with its creators at an art gallery in Victoria, British Columbia.

August 22, 2014

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## Airicist

Ready for Germany
February 11, 2015




> My bags are packed and I am ready to go. In just two days, I will be in Germany with my friends from Galileo. I cannot wait for the many new adventures ahead!

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## Airicist

Ready for the USA
July 5, 2015




> I am hitchBOT — a hitchhiking robot from Port Credit, Ontario, Canada.
> On July 17, 2015, I am shining my wellies to start my hitchhiking adventure across the USA. My journey starts at the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts.
> 
> From there, I hope to complete items from my hitchhiking bucket list with the help of strangers. This includes visiting a number of historic sites like Time Square in New York City; Millennium Park in Illinois; Mount Rushmore in South Dakota; and the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
> My final destination is the Exploratorium in San Francisco, California. Only time will tell how long my journey will take me. I cannot wait to make new friends.

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## Airicist

Article "Parenrs of the decaptived hitchBOT say he will live on" 

by Tim Moynihan
August 4, 2015

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## Airicist

HitchBot surveillance video

Published on Aug 3, 2015

Article "Here's Video of the Jerk Who Killed hitchBOT"

by Matt Novak
August 3, 2015

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## Airicist

HitchBOT the friendly robot is dead, and we killed it

Published on Aug 4, 2015




> Hitchbot, a friendly robot that could communicate but not move, was an experiment to see if humans could extend kindness and hospitality to a robot.
> 
> The humans failed.
> 
> Hitchbot was found decapitated and mangled. Was the experiment a success?
> 
> Kim Horcher discusses with Brett Erlich (Viral Video Film School, TYT Network)!

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## Airicist

Hitchbot prank on the news!!

Published on Aug 4, 2015




> Before the death of Hitchbot, I was the last person to experience the hitchhiking experiment. It was handed off to me and Ed in Philly on top of the Rocky Steps at Art Museum. At that point, I did not know much about the Robot except that he had a bucket list to visit famous landmarks around the United States. I later learned that his next destination was to travel to Washington D.C., so I reached out to my twitter and snapchat followers for someone come meet me to pick up the robot and bring him along his journey. I sat him on a bench in the historically known oldest residential street of Philadelphia, Elfreth's Alley. I waited there for awhile, but no one had come for Hitchbot, so I left him to continue his hitchhiking journey on his own. 
> 
> The next day, the terrible news was reported that Hitchbot had been vandalized and completely destroyed. News reporters and Anchors from various news stations were reaching out to me to hear about his last moments alive, so Ed and I decided to do an interview, but to prank the news during the interview as Ed's character "Always Teste." 
> 
> We were upset about the vandalism of Hitchbot and went in search to find any Surveillance footage of the area that may have existed, so we could find out who the killer was! We had no luck, and then the idea sparked for us to create fake surveillance footage of "Always Teste," Ed's character and PRANK THE NEWS!! We bought similar parts and rebuilt the arms of the robot to utilize in the surveillance video. We placed a camera at the scene where Hitchbot was last seen and where his remains were found.
> 
> I edited the video to look like a true "surveillance video" and I sent it off to the news because they had all been asking me for interviews and information. The reporters began reporting, showing the footage, and the alleged killer of this so called famous robot! It actually unexpectedly became trending World-Wide top story news! So I gathered some of the news stories and revealed the prank of the REAL FULL VERSION of the Surveillence Footage, showing that indeed, it was just a joke and that "Teste" was not the killer, nor was the robot even real.
> 
> I guess this just goes to show that not everything that you hear on the news is real, or for that matter, what you hear from anybody. WE PRANKED THE NEWS, WORLDWIDE!!!
> ...

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## Airicist

Article "HitchBOT, hitchhiking robot, settles down at Canada Science and Technology Museum"
Canada Science and Technology Museum says it will still 'take it on the road'

December 15, 2015

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## Airicist

Who Murdered HitchBOT?

Published on Aug 4, 2015




> A famous hitchhiking robot has been destroyed in Philadelphia. The robot was created by Canadian researchers who wanted to see if the robot could cross the country. It successfully travelled Canada, and Europe but met an untimely end in the City of Brotherly Love. Ana Kasparian (The Point), Karamo Brown, and Becca Frucht (Pop Sugar)hosts of The Young Turks discuss.
> 
> Does this say something about Americans? Does it mean that American are violent? Let us know in the comments below.
> 
> “HITCHBOT, A ONE-YEAR-OLD device from Port Credit, Ontario, died early in the morning of August 1, 2015 in Philadelphia. The three-foot-tall hitchhiking robot, a high-tech Flat Stanley that depended on the kindness of strangers to tour this great planet, passed away due to decapitation and dismemberment by an unknown assailant. It is survived by its sibling, KulturBOT, its parents, Dr. David Smith and Dr. Frauke Zeller, and a dozen family members.
> 
> There are a few ways to look at the savage dismemberment of the 25-pound HitchBOT. There’s “of course this happened, because people are generally awful,” or “of course this happened in America after HitchBOT travelled unharmed in other countries, because Americans are obnoxious.” Or, “of course this happened in Philly, where fans once lashed out at Santa Claus.”

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