Posted on 07/17/2015 11:31:07 PM PDT by SaveFerris
BOSTON (AP) — With its thumb raised skyward and a grin on its digital face, the robotic creation of two researchers in Canada is about to start a hitchhiking journey across the U.S.
The humanoid robot named hitchBOT has already caught rides across Canada and in Europe, relying on the kindness and curiosity of strangers. But on Friday it starts its first U.S. tour, setting out from Salem, Massachusetts, with dreams of San Francisco ahead.
Along the way, it hopes to see some quintessential American sites, including Times Square, Mount Rushmore and the Grand Canyon.
The kid-size robot is immobile on its own, so it gets from place to place by being schlepped around by strangers. Travelers can pass it off to others they meet, or leave it at a gas station or shop. They can just leave it seated on its kickstand with its thumb raised.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.myway.com ...
No birth certificate? No problem. We got Adobe.
It's a jungle out there. HitchBOT needs to be packing.
send the robot to downtown Baltimore and it’ll burn. By the time it gets to SF, there’ll be a fag robot waiting for it.
Figure that thing will become a video sensation on the dark side of the ‘net long before it might get to SF. Probably have a marriage license too.
How long before a Muslim puts a bomb by the side of the road with a smile painted on it?
Advise to “HitchBot”........
Avoid any large cities where street rats await vulnerable targets. There is a high possibility that your “inner workings” (electronics, etc.) will be stripped in some inconspicuous alley garage and resold on the black market.
A word to the wise.
I did it in 1984, all the way across I-10. It was memorable, for sure, but I wouldn’t hitchhike around the block now.
It should only accept rides from self-driving cars...
It better stay out of Detroit or it will be kidnapped by scrappers..........LOL!
My first thought was to wonder the same thing.
Presumably the people who built this thing have some brains—but they haven’t thought of the Muslim problem? They’re at a university, where they are not allowed to think negative thoughts about Muslims.
You can’t leave a briefcase on the shoulder of a highway without the bomb squad’s being called.
This is a doomed idea.
Piss poor robot it is
I saw it on TV and like a Tar Baby, it just sits there. It had no thumbs up or other activity to attract a passing motorist.
More than 30,000 people follow the robot on Twitter, and dozens have posted their own selfies with it. Researchers are culling data from social media to study how people interact with a robot that needs their help, unlike traditional robots designed to help them.Among the chief questions researchers are asking, Zeller said, is whether robots can trust humans.
During past travels, the robot has attended a comic convention and a wedding, and it had its portrait painted in the Netherlands. It once spent a week with a heavy metal band.
The cross-country tour of Canada took 26 days, spanning more than 6,000 miles. As for the U.S. trip, researchers don't know how long it will take, or what will happen along the way.
"We want to create something that has a bit of narrative to it, a sense of adventure," Smith said. "We don't really know what's going to happen."
Pretty cool idea.
He left it on the side of the road near the local bar, and when he came back, it was gone. No idea how far the critter went.
Of course it’s more about people and social media than about the robot.
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