It’s really an art project.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: A humanoid robot named hitchBOT is about to embark on a journey hitchhiking across the United States.
The creation of two researchers in Canada, hitchBOT set out on the open road Friday from Salem, Mass., with plans to eventually reach San Francisco, Calif.
The robot is unable to move on its own, and so relies on the kindness of strangers for transportation.
“We want to see what people do with this kind of technology when we leave it up to them,” according to Frauke Zeller, one of the creators, in an interview with the Associated Press. “It’s an art project in the wild — it invites people to participate.”
To start the journey, its creators set it alongside a road in Marblehead with tape wrapped around its cylindrical head that read “San Francisco or bust.” Not long after, a group of German tourists picked it up and strapped it into their SUV with plans to take it to Boston or New York.
According to the AP:
On the outside, hitchBOT looks like it’s built for play rather than performance. It has a bucket for a body and bendy foam limbs capped by yellow gardening gloves and matching rubber boots. The whimsical attire is intentional, its makers said, to make it approachable and to deter potential thieves.
“It has a really low-tech look to it, something we dubbed the ‘yard-sale aesthetic,'” said David Harris Smith, the other creator and an assistant professor in communication studies at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. “The head is actually an acrylic cake-saver.”
The bot recently hitchhiked across Canada in a trip that took 26 days and spanned over 6,000 miles, but researchers don’t know how long its U.S. journey will take.
A GPS in the robot can track its location, and a camera randomly snaps photos about every 20 minutes to document its travels.
The hitchhiking robot has amassed quite the following, with more than 30,000 people following it on Twitter.
Researchers are using the data from social media to study how people interact with a robot that needs their help, unlike traditional robots designed to help them.