The Death and Lives of hitchBOT The Design and Implementation of a Hitchhiking Robot

• Published in: Leonardo (Oxford) Vol. 50; no. 1; pp. 77 - 78
• Main Authors: Smith, David Harris, Zeller, Frauke
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The MIT Press, 1 Rogers Street, Cambridge MA 02142-1209, USA MIT Press 01-02-2017; The MIT Press; MIT Press Journals, The
• Subjects: Artificial intelligence; Design; Ethics; Hitchhiking; Performance art; Robots; STATEMENTS
• ISSN: 0024-094X; 1530-9282
• DOI: 10.1162/LEON_a_01354

In the early morning hours of 1 August 2015, as it waited for its next ride on a Philly park bench, unknown assailants destroyed hitchBOT. Arms torn from its body, legs broken, gutted of its electronics, it was left discarded in a park, minus its smiley-face LED head. Around the world headlines announced the death of a much-loved robot, children and adults shed tears, haters hated on Philadelphia, cartoonists and musicians paid tribute, journalists wrote obituaries and the publicly minded rallied to support a rebuild. The authors share the story of the life and times of their creation, hitchBOT the hitchhiking robot.