HitchBOT, the Hitchhiking Robot's Cross-Country US Trip Ends in Philly

A hitchhiking robot that captured the hearts of fans worldwide met its demise in the U.S. The Canadian researchers who created hitchBOT as a social experiment told The Associated Press that someone in Philadelphia damaged the robot beyond repair early Saturday, ending its first American tour after about two weeks. "Sadly, sadly it's come to an end," said Frauke Zeller, one of its co-creators. A GPS in the robot tracked its location, and a camera randomly snapped photos about every 20 minutes to document its travels.

[jas]

Made it all the way to Philly only to be destroyed...  Sounds about right.

[skiwolf]

As an American, I am ashamed. We suck. Big time.

[Powertuber]

HitchBOT must have wandered into a black neighborhood in Philadelphia.

[MethosFilms]

the guy said on his twitter feed he was gonna leave hitchbot in the inner city. hitchbot was to be left on the highway somewhere so he can be picked up. the last person who had him did not do it right. it made its way through 3 different countries but cant handle the usa? this is really sad and id be ashamed as a whole country.

[hmartinspliff]

It's called Killadelphia for a reason. You don't send a naive hitchhiking robot with a LED smiley face into Philadelphia if you want to see it again in one piece. You gotta send in Robocop or the Terminator.

[JamesBlackwoodRaccoonWhisperer]

I knew right away when I heard they were putting him in the US it would not work there are too many ungrateful and mean people who just love to cause hurt for no reason.

[nessababy]

BFvGF, jesse is going to find out who did it. since he was the last person to have hitchBOT. i hope they find out who did it... social experiment gone bad. in America.. thanks for making us look bad. JERK!!!(who ever did this to )

[mzsammie]

This is probably why they chose to do US last . Not surprised

[Aced]

Really shameful this had to happen in America.  Of course, this would happen in Philly...

[ykmadd]

I hope they can find the people that destroyed it. Although being destroyed in Philipdelphia you can guess who the criminals were.

[lizdanellylopezchiclana]

Who is watching this and is a PvP saaan!

[ACNC]

Next upgrade to direct films....Alfred HitchBOT

[sophiabodnar]

Jesse left it on the bench alone, he was supposed to give it to someone. Therefore him leaving it alaone some person came and damaged him.

[candiduscorvus]

I'm not really surprised. Been to Philly before and that's really about how things go there.

[aidanthomas]

the hitch bot was on the news it still might be in philly MAYBE but the news said it was on the high way last time i checked

[johnho]

rip hitchbot he worked so hard to travel ... Jesse from bfvsgf had it last

[GuitarDude]

Jesses fault for not finding a driver for him and leaving it alone

[DaigoKengo]

You had 1 job Philly and you couldn't even do that right.

[huskerhammer]

Only in Philly. This is the city that threw snowballs at Santa Claus and booed him. What would you expect.

[ToxicVenom]

Everybody shut the hell up about Jesse being at fault. Hitchbot's purpose was to be left on the side of the street until someone else picked it up. That's exactly what Jesse did; he left it on the side of the street for someone to pick it up. Jesse is in no way at fault.