As an experiment in social collaboration, this kind of says it all.
HitchBOT, a childlike "robot" completely dependent on others to move it around and help it achieve its goals, has already successfully traveled 10,000 km across Canada and accomplished its bucket list, as well as around Germany and the Netherlands.
Then it made its fatal mistake: heading to the US. It was destroyed beyond repair within two weeks of setting its little yellow rubber boots on US soil:
A hitchhiking robot that captured the hearts of fans worldwide met its demise in the U.S.
The Canadian researchers who created hitchBOT as a social experiment say someone in Philadelphia damaged the robot beyond repair on Saturday, ending its brief American tour.
The little robot's adventures around the world were being followed by tens of thousands of fans on
Twitter and Facebook.
It was dropped off in Marblehead, Massachusetts on July 17, with the goal of getting across country to take a selfie next to the Hollywood sign.
The robot was designed to be a talking travel companion. It could throw out random factoids.
"We want to see what people do with this kind of technology when we leave it up to them," Frauke Zeller, one of the creators and an assistant professor in professional communication at Toronto's Ryerson University, told the AP. "It's an art project in the wild — it invites people to participate."
Alas, it was not to be:
Apparently different people have different ideas of what it means to participate.
RIP little hitchBOT.