A robot that had been hitchhiking across the US met a bitter end in Philadelphia yesterday.
HitchBOT - attempting to make the cross-state journey from Massachusetts to San Francisco - was damaged beyond repair in the Pennsylvanian city, researchers told AP.
Frauke Zeller, one of the robot’s creators, said: “Sadly, sadly it’s come to an end.”
READ MORE:
The Canadian robot had successfully hitchhiked across Canada in 26 days last year, but his American tour ended after around two weeks. It set off from Boston on 17 July.
AP reported that some tape wrapped around hitchBOT's head read: “San Francisco or bust.” It had a GPS and camera installed, which took a photo every 20 minutes to document the trip.
The creators were sent an image of the damaged robot but they could not track its location because the battery was dead, AP reported.
A statement on the robot’s website read: “Oh dear, my body was damaged, but I live on back home and with all my friends. I guess sometimes bad things happen to good robots! My trip must come to an end for now, but my love for humans will never fade.”
Some fans reacted to the news about hitchBOT's damage on Twitter.
Thanks Philly!!! You freaking Killed @hitchBOT I'm so mad right now.
— Jesse Wellens (@Jessewelle) August 1, 2015
Whoever killed Hitchbot- YOU’RE ON MY LIST
— rstevens № ³ (@rstevens) August 2, 2015
The robot had a bucket list of sites to see while travelling through the US, including the lights in New York’s Times Square, Las Vegas in Nevada and the Hollywood sign in California.
People shared photos of their encounters with hitchBOT
Photos taken by the robot and those by people who found it were posted on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Although hitchBOT could not actually move, it could engage in limited conversation.
