If you ask most women or young girls nowadays whether they feel safe walking alone at night, the answer will often be No. Females often find it necessary to take extra precautions in dangerous areas at dangerous times. Men often respond in a more positive way when asked, and it appears that this fear is more applicable to ladies…. or is it? It turns out, the same fear of walking the streets alone at night goes for robots. That’s right, apparently it is no longer any more safe for robots to be alone at night than it is for women.
How can I confirm this assumption? Take the story of Hitchbot (the robot above), the robot with an (h)-itch to travel. All this robot ever wanted was to bring happiness to people on a worldwide degree and make it around the world in one piece, but the poor robot only got the chance to do one of those things.
Created last summer by Canadian Researchers, Hitchbot hiked across Canada from Nova Scotia to Victoria, all the while posing for pictures with Citizens and showing off today’s latest technology. The friendly robot walked over 10, 000 meters, with the mission statement:
And it never did fade- Hitchbot made it successfully across Canada, Germany and the Netherlands.
Here’s a photo from the Netherlands~
Hitchbot had a great start to journeying across the United States, but unfortunately the smiling robot was only able to check two things off of a well-made bucket list.
Why is that? Because on August 1st, 2015, Hitchbot was brutally dissembled. It was a dark and seemingly quiet night in Philadelhpia, USA, and Hitchbot was peacefully making it’s way through the state. The robot didn’t get far though, until some inconsiderate individual murdered it. We don’t even know who it was for sure, so for now Hitchbot’s death is a mystery. Strangely enough, two individuals actually posted a video, claiming that they were responsible. Okay, first of all, why would you want to take responsibility for something like that. It turns out, that video was a fraud.
Here is a video which explains the murder mystery of Hitcbot:
As for what Hitchbot’s creators, here’s what they have to say in response to what happened to their beloved robot.
Support Hitchbot and learn more here.
In conclusion, as a final tribute to Hitchbot I would like to make a simple statement. Just because someone else does not look like you, act like you, or think like you, it does not give you the right to treat that individual as anything less than another human. However, when you do something so brutal to someone so innocent, just for the ‘fun’ of it, then that makes you less than human.
Hopefully the researchers will build another robot who will be able to re-start Hitchbot’s legacy, but for now, RIP Hitchbot.
