Innocent Canadian robot destroyed in Philly

[Esternial]

It wasn't even demanding you ad nauseum to provide it with 'input'.

[Dooom35796821595]

It was only a matter of time before Skynet gave it orders to kill...

Now that it has established Americans to be hostile, we will.

http://www.skynet.be/

NOBODY EXPECTED THE BELGIAN ROBOT INQUISITION

Orders from Skynet Central.

New primary target:USA

All warheads will be focused on American cities, Japan will supply mecha for infantry support.

Projected casualties:312,129,362

[Ontorisa]

I would have done the same, lol.

That's terrible. The destruction of someone else's property is not something you should do.

[The Empire of Pretantia]

I for one applaud any man or woman who has the guts to stop a robot put somewhere it does not belong. Advanced robotics is a step towards human extinction, so we must stand up and prevent robots like this one from becoming the norm.

Sarcasm?

[Mysterious Stranger 2]

I half expected the title to be "canadian murdered in philly."

[The Republican United States]

Now that it has established Americans to be hostile, we will.

http://www.skynet.be/

NOBODY EXPECTED THE BELGIAN ROBOT INQUISITION

Orders from Skynet Central.

New primary target:USA

All warheads will be focused on American cities, Japan will supply mecha for infantry support.

Projected casualties:312,129,362

Edward Furlong's birthday is today. We need to protect John Connor!

[Ontorisa]

I for one applaud any man or woman who has the guts to stop a robot put somewhere it does not belong. Advanced robotics is a step towards human extinction, so we must stand up and prevent robots like this one from becoming the norm.

Sarcasm?

Definitely.

[Stellonia]

Why are we making such a big deal about this?

[The Krogan]

Seriously though, don't people have better things to do then destroy a defenseless robot?

[Talvezout]

I for one applaud any man or woman who has the guts to stop a robot put somewhere it does not belong. Advanced robotics is a step towards human extinction, so we must stand up and prevent robots like this one from becoming the norm.

And we've already started...

[The Empire of Pretantia]

Why are we making such a big deal about this?

It's just a fucking thread.

[Skeckoa]

Yes yes, Americans are less trusting and rarely invite strangers into their homes to eat. This is (as far as I know) is well documented.

Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, until you rough a brother up.

[The Empire of Pretantia]

Yes yes, Americans are less trusting and rarely invite strangers into their homes to eat. This is (as far as I know) is well documented.

What countries invite strangers to dinner?

[Esternial]

Yes yes, Americans are less trusting and rarely invite strangers into their homes to eat. This is (as far as I know) is well documented.

Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, until you rough a brother up.

This reminds me of a trip I went on through Romania awhile back. My friends and I had been driving all day and there was no large town in sight, so we stopped somewhere to ask where we could sleep.

Turns out the guy owned a shop and invited us to sit down, brought out home-made sausages, bread and cheese and began preparing us a meal. Every time he saw we were out of something, he came back to slice off some more cheese, bread or sausage. Then he ran off and came back later saying he contacted a friend that owned a small inn.

It was fucking amazing.

[Empire of Narnia]

I would have done the same, lol.

That's terrible. The destruction of someone else's property is not something you should do.

In my area their is an empty field where people drop off old TVs, computers, appliances, etc to smash. I even donated an old CRT computer monitor to the field. It was smashed to pieces the very next day.

Yes yes, Americans are less trusting and rarely invite strangers into their homes to eat. This is (as far as I know) is well documented.

Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, until you rough a brother up.

This reminds me of a trip I went on through Romania awhile back. My friends and I had been driving all day and there was no large town in sight, so we stopped somewhere to ask where we could sleep.

Turns out the guy owned a shop and invited us to sit down, brought out home-made sausages, bread and cheese and began preparing us a meal. Every time he saw we were out of something, he came back to slice off some more cheese, bread or sausage. Then he ran off and came back later saying he contacted a friend that owned a small inn.

It was fucking amazing.

If that happened to me I would have assumed he was a serial killer.

[The Empire of Pretantia]

That's terrible. The destruction of someone else's property is not something you should do.

In my area their is an empty field where people drop off old TVs, computers, appliances, etc to smash. I even donated an old CRT computer monitor to the field. It was smashed to pieces the very next day.

How the fuck is that relevant?

[Xanama]

Whats this thread Aboot?

[Skeckoa]

Yes yes, Americans are less trusting and rarely invite strangers into their homes to eat. This is (as far as I know) is well documented.

What countries invite strangers to dinner?

It is quite a streotype, but lots of Americans report that while abroad in: Latin America, Southern Europe, Southeast Asia, people seem a lot more hospitable towards people that they don't know.

[The Empire of Pretantia]

What countries invite strangers to dinner?

It is quite a streotype, but lots of Americans report that while abroad in: Latin America, Southern Europe, Southeast Asia, people seem a lot more hospitable towards people that they don't know.

And every other area you didn't mention?

And how is all this relevant?

[The Krogan]

Did we get his body back yet?

[Esternial]

This reminds me of a trip I went on through Romania awhile back. My friends and I had been driving all day and there was no large town in sight, so we stopped somewhere to ask where we could sleep.

Turns out the guy owned a shop and invited us to sit down, brought out home-made sausages, bread and cheese and began preparing us a meal. Every time he saw we were out of something, he came back to slice off some more cheese, bread or sausage. Then he ran off and came back later saying he contacted a friend that owned a small inn.

It was fucking amazing.

If that happened to me I would have assumed he was a serial killer.

Well then you're pretty weird.

[Empire of Narnia]

In my area their is an empty field where people drop off old TVs, computers, appliances, etc to smash. I even donated an old CRT computer monitor to the field. It was smashed to pieces the very next day.

How the fuck is that relevant?

This is a thread about an electronic being smashed. I talked about how people find smashing electronic devices to be a pleasurable experience. It's totally relevant.

[The Empire of Pretantia]

How the fuck is that relevant?

This is a thread about an electronic being smashed. I talked about how people find smashing electronic devices to be a pleasurable experience. It's totally relevant.

Are you saying you would've smashed Hitchbot for fun?

[Prusslandia]

This is terribel. D:

[Scyobayrynn]

(Image)
HitchBOT prior to setting out on his US tour

After its siblings safely hitched across both Germany and Canada, and gathered worldwide attention, the latest iteration of the hitch-hiking robot HitchBOT embarked on an American road trip from Salem, MA with a goal of "San Francisco or bust".

Unfortunately he never made it that far. HitchBOT was dropped off at Elfreths Ally in Philadelphia (the oldest residential street in the United States) around 4 AM after a night out with local YouTuber Jesse Wellens, and was destroyed beyond repair by vandals sometime shortly after. Photographs of HitchBOT's headless body were sent to his "family" (the team of researchers based at universities in and around Toronto that created him) and the lead researchers verified that his GPS tracker was no longer functioning.

HitchBOT was an experiment/design project developed primarily by two social scientists Prof. David Harris Smith (Ryerson University, Toronto) and Prof. Frauke Zeller (McMaster University, Hamilton) to examine human interaction with technology as well as to cause people to think critically about trust and safety. HitchBOT was able to communicate verbally using speech recognition, hold limited conversation, could convey several facial expressions using an LCD screen "face", and was equipped with a camera that automatically took pictures every . The key aspect of the experiment was that he was utterly dependent on the kindness of strangers, being unable to move on his own and requiring a car's cigarette lighter or a home outlet to recharge.

CBC | Deutsche Welle | NPR | Toronto Star

----------------------

I suppose it is a good sign that two previous version of HitchBOT were able to travel the length of Germany and Canada with nothing bad happening to them... but it had to happen sooner or later. If this says anything about different countries' approach to trust remains to be seen.

Seriously, though, what sort of jerk utterly destroys a helpless robot with an electronic smiley face on it? HuffPost is normally sort of silly with their headlines but were bang on with "ICYMI: Harmless, innocent Canadian robot meets its demise in the U.S.".

What dicks.

Hitchbot was a really cool idea, if I had gotten a chance me and hitchbot would've hit the tittybar before I drove to the state line.

Another reason to hate Pennsylvania.