hitchBOT is a social robot created by Canadian developers David Harris Smith of McMaster University and Frauke Zeller of Ryerson University [1] . He gained international fame after a successful hitchhiking trip across Canada and Europe in 2014-15, however, during a hitchhiking trip across the United States, the robot was beheaded and broken by unknowns [2] .
| hitchBOT | |
|---|---|
| Producing country |  Canada |
| Type of robot | Android |
| Designed in | 2014 year |
| Developer | David Harris Smith Frauke Zeller |
| Implementation | prototype |
| Site | m.hitchbot.me |
Content
Creation Goals
In 2014, the hitchBOT robot (from the English hitchhiking - hitchhiking and the English bot - short for " robot ") was created by a group of Canadian researchers, professors and volunteer students from several universities in Canada as an art project and social experiment [1] [ 3] . Since the public has concerns about the possibility of trusting robots in everyday life, the main developers of hitchBOT, David Harris Smith and Frauke Zeller, decided to check whether the robots themselves can trust people [1] .
Description
In order to make the robbery of the robot economically unattractive while traveling by hitchhiking, during its creation, household items and electronics were used, with a total cost of only $ 1,000–2,000 [4] [5] .
The robot’s body was made of a cylindrical bucket for cooling beer, to which the developers attached flexible “arms” and “legs” of blue water sticks to make them more human looking, putting them in garden gloves and rubber boots [1] [3] [4] . Flexible solar panels were wrapped around the case, recharging the batteries could also be done by connecting to the vehicle’s on-board network [6] . The only moving element of the robot was a motorized right hand, driven depending on the signals of the motion detection sensor, with which the robot could give characteristic signs to attract the attention of passing drivers [6] . To simulate the “eyes”, “mouth” and “facial expressions” of the robot, LED screens were installed in the upper part of the robot’s body, covered with a transparent cover for the microwave oven [5] . The height of the robot was 3.5 feet (106.68 cm), and the weight reached a total of 15 pounds (6.8 kg) [4] .
The electronic "filling" of the robot consisted of a tablet PC on the Android platform and some components from Arduino [5] . The GPS module and 3G and Wi-Fi wireless technology, allowed developers to know the current location of the robot, as well as use the data to plan a future trip [6] . The built-in camera made it possible to record and take photographs sent every 20 minutes to developers, and then published on the robot’s accounts on Twitter , Instagram and Facebook [6] [7] . The robot was also equipped with a speech recognition and synthesis system, and the diverse information obtained using the Wikipedia API allowed the robot to maintain a conversation with the driver on various topics using the CleverBot built-in artificial intelligence application [6] [8] .
Travel
Within the framework of the project, the robot must hitchhike along a pre-selected road route, relying solely on the good faith of passing strangers. With the help of a robotic arm, the robot could “vote” in places of automobile traffic, explain to interested motorists their route, and if they were interested in a traveling companion, ask them to transfer themselves to the vehicle. On the way, the robot could help the driver coordinate the optimal route of the trip, ask him to recharge his battery, and also conduct a limited conversation with him on various topics. Those who could not carry the robot further often passed it to other drivers or left it in places where other people could notice and pick it up [9] . In addition, the developers of the robot kept a daily diary while hitchhiking.
HitchBOT made its first hitchhiking trip on July 27 - August 21, 2014 in Canada, breaking more than 10 thousand km [10] . The route passed from the Institute of Applied Creativity at the University of NSCAD [11] in Halifax, Nova Scotia to Victoria, British Columbia . [10] [12] According to the “legend” set out on Twitter, hitchBOT decided to hitchhike across Canada, because, according to current laws, he cannot pass on his own rights and get a driver’s license [3] .
From February 13 to 22, 2015 hitchBOT hitchhiked around the cities of Germany [13] . Starting his journey from Munich , the robot traveled to Cologne , Berlin and Hamburg , and also visited local attractions - Neuschwanstein Castle , Brandenburg Gate and Cologne Cathedral , safely returning to Munich [13] . The robot crew was accompanied by the Galileo television crew [14] .
From 7 to 24 June 2015, hitchBOT spent a “vacation” in the Netherlands , where he took part in various events [15] .
On his third trip, hitchBOT was supposed to hitchhike across the US from Boston to San Francisco , starting his journey on July 17 from the city of Marblehead, Massachusetts [9] [16] . However, the trip soon ended when a photograph of a robot [17] , broken and decapitated by unknown intruders near Philadelphia , Pennsylvania [2] [7] [9] [16], appeared on Twitter on August 1.
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Madrigal, Alexis C .. Meet the Cute, Wellies-Wearing, Wikipedia-Reading Robot That's Going to Hitchhike Across Canada (English) , The Atlantic (12 June 2014). Date of treatment August 6, 2015.
- ↑ 1 2 Odd, Tatyana . Vandals broke and beheaded the famous robot traveler HitchBOT , Komsomolskaya Pravda in Ukraine (August 3, 2015). Date of treatment August 6, 2015.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Odd, Tatyana . A traveler robot will travel across Canada , Komsomolskaya Pravda in Ukraine (July 29, 2014). Date of treatment August 6, 2015.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Fitz-Williams, Shanzelle HitchBOT: The Robot That Crossed Canada On Kindness . Bidnessetc.com (August 19, 2014). Date of treatment August 6, 2015. Archived September 23, 2015.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Griggs, Brandon HitchBOT: The Robot That Crossed Canada On Kindness . CNN (August 1, 2014). Date of treatment August 6, 2015.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Thumbs Up! HitchBOT the Robot Plans to Hitchhike Across Canada . NBC News (16 June 2014). Date of treatment August 6, 2015.
- ↑ 1 2 Hitchbot's decapitators avoided capture by the hitchhiking android's cameras . The Guardian (August 3, 2015). Date of treatment August 6, 2015.
- ↑ Can we trust robots? Better question: can robots trust us? (eng.) . Kurzweil.net (August 24, 2014). Date of treatment August 6, 2015.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Kuznetsov, Sergey . A hitchhiking robot in America was destroyed in Philadelphia , FTimes.ru (August 2, 2015). Date of treatment August 6, 2015.
- ↑ 1 2 My Canada Travels . hitchbot.me. Date of treatment August 6, 2015.
- ↑ hitchBOT Announces start date for Canadian hitchhiking journey . Hitchbot.me (June 13, 2014). Date of treatment August 6, 2015.
- ↑ Posner, Michael . In our love affair with machines, will they break our hearts? (English) , The Globe and Mail (December 20, 2013). Date of treatment August 6, 2015.
- ↑ 1 2 My German Adventure . hitchbot.me. Date of treatment August 6, 2015.
- ↑ Trampender Roboter: Der Hitchbot kommt nach Deutschland (German) , Spiegel Online (21. Januar 2015). Date of treatment August 6, 2015.
- ↑ My Netherlands Vacation . hitchbot.me. Date of treatment August 6, 2015.
- ↑ 1 2 Baker, Debbi Robot hitchhiking from Boston to San Francisco destroyed in Philadelphia. (Yes, robot. Yes, hitchhiking.) The San Diego Union-Tribune (August 3, 2015). Date of treatment August 6, 2015.
- ↑ Courtois, Andrea EXCLUSIVE PHOTO: evidence of vandalized hitchhiking robot in Philadelphia . Twitter.com (August 1, 2015). Date of treatment August 6, 2015.