hitchBOT

hitchBOT was a Canadian hitchhiking robot created by professors David Harris Smith of McMaster University and Frauke Zeller of Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly known as Ryerson University) in 2013. It gained international attention for successfully hitchhiking across Canada, Germany and the Netherlands. In 2015, its attempt to hitchhike across the United States ended when it was stripped, dismembered, and decapitated in Philadelphia.

== Description == thumb|upright|Original hitchBOT in collections Smith, who had hitchhiked across Canada three times, and Zeller had "designed the robot to learn about how people interact with technology and ask the question, 'Can robots trust human beings?'" The robot could not walkit completed its "hitchhiking" journeys by "asking" to be carried by those who picked it up. The robot could engage in basic conversations, discuss facts, and function as a robotic companion during travels in the vehicle of the driver who picked it up. As part of a social experiment, it was equipped with social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.