Robot hitchhikes across Canada

22 Aug 2014

OTTAWA, CANADA: A chatty robot with an LED-lit smiley face was sent hitchhiking across Canada this summer as part of a social experiment and reached its final destination having covered several thousand kilometres on the road.

HitchBot successfully trekked 6,000km across Canada as part of a social study on how humans interact with robots. It left Halifax on the west coast and travelled to Victoria in British Columbia, relying on motorists for lifts. Image: ZME Science

HitchBot, assembled from household odds and ends by university professors Frauke Zeller and David Smith, reunited with its creators at an art gallery in Victoria, British Columbia having travelled more than 6,000km.

The pair devised the trip hoping it would provide insights into societal views of robots.

"This project turns our fear of technology on its head and asks, 'Can robots trust humans?'" Zeller said in July when HitchBot's trip began.

With a head encased in a transparent cake saver, set atop a plastic beer pail wrapped in a solar panel and swimming pool floats for limbs, the automaton was designed to be fully dependent on people.

"Our aim is to further discussion in society about our relationship with technology and robots," said Zeller.

HitchBot began its trip on 27 July in Halifax, after being picked up by an elderly couple in a camper van.

Images and messages posted on Twitter showed the robot, with its rubber boots and yellow latex gloves, being driven westward across forests, mountains and prairies, making stops to fish and camp, attend a wedding and a native pow-wow, a traditional celebration.

Its journey, courtesy of a host of strangers, has inspired art, clothing and a knock-off made of cardboard and string, affectionately dubbed HitchBox.

To celebrate the end of its odyssey, a party will be held at the Open Space gallery, which supports experimental art.

Researchers were to analyse comments posted on social media to see what they can surmise about the public's attitudes concerning robot-human interactions.

Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge

Source: I-Net Bridge

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