Hitchhiking Robot's Cross-Country Trip Ends In Philadelphia 224
An anonymous reader writes: A hitchhiking robot that successfully traveled across Canada in 26 days last year and parts of Europe, has met its demise in Philly. Created as a "social experiment," hitchBOT started its journey in the U.S. in Marblehead, Massachusetts, on July 17 with its thumb raised up and tape wrapped around its head that read "San Francisco or bust." After about two weeks in the U.S., someone in Philadelphia damaged the robot beyond repair. "Sadly, sadly it's come to an end," said Frauke Zeller, one of its co-creators. The Independent reports: "The robot was designed to be a talking travel companion and could toss out factoids and carry limited conversation. A GPS in the robot tracked its location, and a camera randomly snapped photos about every 20 minutes to document its travels."
News at 11 (Score:2)
It was bound to happen. (Score:3)
Unfortunately the less fortunate in other countries have more respect for something than our country. Thanks asshole.
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Yeah :( All the Canadians and Europeans who are far less fortunate than those in Philly. Rough times, rough times.
Re:It was bound to happen. (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah, an article about something like this with no pictures? Come on.
CBC News article [www.cbc.ca] with pictures.
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Aww, poor little thing. It's a sad indictment of the state of humanity. And so is everything else that's going on, before the trolls come along and say "Gaza" or "ISIS" or "religion" (ugh)...
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Yeah, an article about something like this with no pictures? Come on.
CBC News article [www.cbc.ca] with pictures.
Nice link.
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Wait until Bruha finds out that the Average US Citizen is the LESS FORTUNATE when compared to the standard of living in most every other 1st World Nation.
In fact, comparatively, the US is more like a 2nd World Nation in terms of income equality and standard of living.
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The money supply is finite, otherwise it would have to be infinite, which it clearly isn't.
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The money supply is finite, otherwise it would have to be infinite, which it clearly isn't.
The money supply is effectively infinite; long before you run out of ability to print it, the system crashes and it becomes worthless. The supply of wealth is finite, because all wealth is derived from the land.
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So nobody ever has created wealth without land?
There are no wealthy actors, musicians, authors, or anyone in the tech industry? Huh, guess I'll go buy me farm.
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all wealth is derived from the land
So nobody ever has created wealth without land?
There are no wealthy actors, musicians, authors, or anyone in the tech industry? Huh, guess I'll go buy me farm.
Are you really this dumb, or do you just want an argument? I've had this argument before, and it was dumb that time, too. The short, short form is "where do you think the electricity to run the internets comes from? Magic fairies?"
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The fact that the post you're replying to was upvoted just as much as yours should tell you what you need to know: People on slashdot are a terrible cross-section of humanity compared to ANY country.
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By definition the inputs to production cost less, or no one would produce, except "artists".
I'll agree that the supply of land is limited, but still submit wealth != land.
BTW, there is a lot of shitty land available.
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> There are no wealthy actors, musicians, authors, or anyone in the tech industry? Huh, guess I'll go buy me farm.
There are, but they all required land to do it. Musicians need food and shelter to make music, this requires land. Every cent of wealth generated in all of history can be traced back to the land (or sea) and until we can practically leave the planet, this constraint will remain.
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It would be funny if it wasn't true. Those guys shut down the entire city over some fucking glorified lite brites.
interesting experiment (Score:3)
Too bad it was damaged beyond repair, I'm curious around the real circumstances as to how it became that way? Anybody have a better link than the TFA?
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Detals of the reports are murky, but I think it was something like this [youtube.com]. While we're sorry this happened, we presume he went out happy.
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Funny yet fucked up. Still funny though.
Re:interesting experiment (Score:5, Funny)
Too bad it was damaged beyond repair, I'm curious around the real circumstances as to how it became that way?
Some joker tried to install systemd on it.
Re: interesting experiment (Score:2)
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Maybe you can explain the contrast between it being vandalized in Philly, yet made it across Canada and Europe undamaged?
I dont think the "public" in general was upset. Most of the news articles are fairly positive as are the associated comments.
Also, they didnt get rid of it. They just broke it. If it was "junk" and someone put it in the garbage that would be one thing. Instead, they damaged it and stole part of it.
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Instead, they damaged it and stole part of it.
You can't steal what is given away, and the law says that if you leave stuff lying around on purpose, that you're in a grey area. Specifically, by leaving it on the side of the road without any sort of permit, you're littering. Not only are you giving up your rights to whatever you left there, but you can be fined for discarding of waste improperly.
Now, I agree that it's douchey to damage the thing and take part of it, but I don't agree that it's vandalism or theft. Some social experiments fail. Or, alterna
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I'd like it better if somebody had just chucked it in a dumpster. It's a piece of debris, sitting by the roadside. It's ugly, it's a distraction and has the potential to become a road hazard. They can take their "social experiment" and cram it.
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It's ugly, it's a distraction and has the potential to become a road hazard.
You could say the same about most any user of this website, are you about to make a modest proposal regarding slashdotters? Because that will be a fun thread.
Re:interesting experiment (Score:5, Insightful)
And this my friends, is why it survived in canada and europe for months but NOT the usa for more than a few weeks.
You talk so much mr poo, that you give away the real truth with your comment without even realizing it. That is why it was damaged in america in short order, because americans think exactly like this comment.
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That is why it was damaged in america in short order, because americans think exactly like this comment.
Really? Because I did say I thought it was a douchey thing to do. If all Americans thought that way, it wouldn't have been damaged. QED, you didn't actually read and/or understand my comment before talking about it...
Re: interesting experiment (Score:2)
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So if someone is driving an RC car around and you pick it up, it's yours because they left it lying around? Care to extend that to a Predator drone? If you manage to swipe it out the sky somehow with say a hack, I'm sure the government wont care because hey, they left it flying around in public airspace so tough shit. You can just take it. I imagine car theft isn't a crime in the US either, because if someone just parks their car and leaves it lying around, it's fine to just jack the engine out of it right?
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It's a place not safe for man, beast or robot.
Re: interesting experiment (Score:2)
Re:interesting experiment (Score:5, Insightful)
Art exists for art sake. I think it's an interesting experiment in human nature. It's obviously proven one point that people will be assholes just to be assholes.
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Perhaps you can show us some examples of your recent "social experiments". Just share some links showing your project had news coverage like hitchbot had.
Oh, i see.. you are more about criticizing others even though you have nothing of real value, further, you willingly admit you are of sufficiently low intelligence you would damage someone else' work?
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Just share some links showing your project had news coverage like hitchbot had.
Right. The measure of a project's value is 'new coverage.'
Turn in your nerd card.
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Among the metrics of success is usability for the masses.
it is by no stretch the only metric, but it is one of them.
You don't get 'funding' for projects people don't care about, do you?
Marketing plays into almost everything in some ways.
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Right...
why don't you take a look at the pics of hitchbot and count the litter around it.
Clearly "civil minded people" such as yourself didnt seem to mind the existing litter in the area.
Also, in case you didndt read the article, it wasnt disposed of, it was vandalized and left to create a "distraction and an eyesore".
Sunday your day off, where instead of doing "civil minded things" like cleaning up litter you come here to post rude comments?
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I said "I would have." I was not commenting on what they did.
I think it's stupid. It's a stupid "social experiment" where you see if you can get other people to play along with your stupid game and draw meaningless, pre-conceived "conclusions" from it.
Did I mention it was stupid?
Those people boo nuns (Score:1)
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As usual (Score:5, Interesting)
The article mentions a blog, but there's no link to it. The article mentions that the "robot" took a photo every 20 minutes but there's not a single photo to show us.
It's like the Internet is only able to use text for articles and things like photos, animations and videos are the exclusive domain of advertisers.
Re:As usual (Score:5, Informative)
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There sure has been lots of discrimination based on race. However, there's a difference between discrimination and the institutionalized racism through slavery and Jim Crow laws that have combined for centuries of oppression. Let's say that Kim Jong-Un was dethroned today in North Korea and a democracy was implemented immediately. Do you honestly believe that North Korea would immediately prosper? It would take a long time to recover from the damage done by the dictatorship. While other races and ethnicitie
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There sure has been lots of discrimination based on race. However, there's a difference between discrimination and the institutionalized racism through slavery and Jim Crow laws that have combined for centuries of oppression. Let's say that Kim Jong-Un was dethroned today in North Korea and a democracy was implemented immediately. Do you honestly believe that North Korea would immediately prosper? It would take a long time to recover from the damage done by the dictatorship. While other races and ethnicities have prospered more quickly in the US, they also haven't faced the prolonged severe racism that African-Americans have. You're a troll because you're intentionally leaving out those important facts.
Democracy won't necessarily lead to instant prosperity???! Heretic!
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You numbnut. This occurred a century before there was such a thing as the USA.
The first documented Slaveowner in North America was Christopher Columbus.
Of course, Slavery existed here long before Columbus, but Conservative pustules like to refer to the Johnson Lawsuit because of its novelty. "Hey- a Black Man once owned a Slave, therefor Slavery is a Good Thing!"
BTW, you might look into European Slavery; Cromwell took Irish as Slaves and sent them to North America. Read your Pirenne. I'm not talking abou
Mission Accomplished (Score:5, Funny)
>> tape wrapped around its head that read "San Francisco or bust."
Option 2. Mission accomplished, right?
Pic (Score:2)
Here's a story with a picture of the robot back when he was in good health, as well as a picture of the now deceased robot:
http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com... [gizmodo.com]
That was just sad (Score:2)
That was a douche move. Thanks, Philly, for showing the world how classy we are.
Bike? (Score:2)
One more notch for that dentist? (Score:2)
So once again we prove (Score:1)
America is not ready to join the civilized world. It must be the trauma of their 9/11. A spell was cast that drove off all the humanity and left only the death eaters You all are right, I don't belong here. Such a sad place paradise has become. I cry as I post this.
Don't Cry... (Score:2)
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Perhaps somebody just got news they were being replaced by automation.
And then on their way home spotted the robotic hitchhiker. The rest is history, including the robot.
Missing the 1 suspect (Score:1)
Why does the article assume vandalism? (Score:1)
That doesn't sound like vandalism to me, it sounds like plain theft. I know the article wanted to pain this person as "terrible" to fit with the snappy title, but it's more likely that this person was just desperate and found some electronics to steal. According to the USDA [usda.gov] there's close to 7 million households in the US that go hungry once in a while because they don't have a reliable income.
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Is it stealing to take something abandoned by the side of the road?
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there's close to 7 million households in the US that go hungry once in a while because they don't have a reliable income.
and that makes it better how?
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If you want to solve poverty, you need stronger social safety nets and education in useful job skills. If you want to solve hooligan vandalism, however, you need stronger police, more surveillance, and more morality education. I would honestly rather not see the government taking step
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Interesting point of view.
I do think though that vandalism and poverty/education at are at least related in some fashion.
What is the solution? That is a whole other conversation...
City of Brotherly Loathing (Score:3)
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If it were near me I would have called the department of transportation and reported a piece of roadside debris and let them haul it to the dump.
Let off in Philly, it walked into a Dunkin' Donut. (Score:5, Funny)
And was set upon by a gang of cheap Windows Vista laptops that had been lounging around glomming the free WiFi. It was found face down behind the diner, stripped of all data, with its USB port full of viruses.
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Virtual +1 Funny.
Seriously, I used to get mod points every few weeks and now I haven't gotten any in over six months.
the gang ruins it for everybody (Score:2)
i guess to robot failed the ocular patdown.
Who Saw Him Last? (Score:2)
http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com... [gizmodo.com]
The robot was not properly equipped (Score:1)
For the Canada trip they outfitted it with a pleasing personality and the robot made it across the country. For the US trip they should have outfitted it with a sidearm and live ammo. Just how we roll here.....
Obligatory (Score:4, Funny)
"We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was. Better... stronger... faster."
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"We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was. Better... stronger... faster."
Of all the times I wished Slashdot supported images, this is one of the top 5. But yes, they will [imgur.com].
Next robot story (Score:2)
Bot travels the Internet, trolling for corrosive hatred, and hits paydirt on Slashdot.
Last seen alive on YouTube (Score:3, Informative)
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Robophobia (Score:1)
Reminds me of scene from Trading Places (Score:2)
"In Philadelphia, it's worth fifty bucks". They should definitely search the pawn shops for any valuable parts that match.
Philly (Score:2)
It's probably the only thing that sports fans from New York and Boston agree on; Filthydelphia sucks. This is where Santa was pelted with snowballs by Eagles fans after all...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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There are laws against hitchhiking in many states because it is considered dangerous. Many people are killed each year from it. While l personally think this is a great social experiment, the outcome should not be unexpected. While most of us would love to pick up a hitchhiking robot, robots have yet to their respect and place among humans.
"Hitchhiking is dangerous so we make it illegal, that way if you hitchhike in our state the police will taze you, rob you and put you in a cell with Bubba. Have a nice day."
Re: Even Humans Cannot Hitchhike Safely. (Score:1)
But "it's for your own good, citizen!" Has long been a favorite excuse for the application of restrictive and revenue-creating laws! We can't break the tradition.
Re:Even Humans Cannot Hitchhike Safely. (Score:5, Insightful)
the outcome should not be unexpected
And there is the problem. Have we sunk so low that it should be expected that our society will not be civil? The robot made it safely across canada and parts of europe. It spent a week with a heavy metal band, people respected it.
Two weeks in america and its defiled. Makes me emberrased.
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Admittedly, there has been the same problem with Fibreglass cows in Europe. A touring exhibition of fibreglass cows was vandalized in Dublin and Paris.
Of course, the root of the verb "to vandalize" comes from the Vandals that sacked Rome implying that it is by no means a modern issue. In other words: there has always been some fuckwit to ruin it for everybody.
Re: Even Humans Cannot Hitchhike Safely. (Score:1)
Cesspool? Where do you live? Philly is frequently rated as one of the best places to visit in the U.S, has some of the best restaurants/chefs in the world, and has a thriving tech scene. If you can't understand the probability of having someone vandalize something in a big city on the side of the road for the lulz then you are clueless.
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Nah, it's just that most Americans are uneducated and violent, regardless of their skin colour.
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Guy in the video looks pretty white to me. Maybe you mean the bullshit that white dudes who are sick in the head go on about while they do evil:
http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/heres-video-of-the-jerk-who-killed-hitchbot-1721797093 [gizmodo.com]
Re:Niggers (Score:4, Insightful)
The creators were sent an image of the vandalized robot Saturday but couldn't track its location because the battery is dead. They said they don't know who destroyed it or why.
The perpetrators of this vandalism probably were bored, undereducated, underachieving young WHITE male(s). The definition of 'nigger' has changed; it has to do with how you think and act, not the color of your skin. Ironically, racist pieces of shit who go around calling black people 'niggers' are the ones who are the real niggers in the world, because they're largely who are perpetuating so-called race-related problems.
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Yeah, keep lying to yourself, skippy.
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Ironically, racist pieces of shit who go around calling black people 'niggers' are the ones who are the real niggers in the world, because they're largely who are perpetuating so-called race-related problems.
I'm glad you agree that Rap Artists are a big part of the problem.
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Rap "artists" are a big part of the problem and I don't care about the colour of their skin either.
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Who cares who abused the robot? Why wasn't the robot armed? Why didn't the robot dial 911?
We all knew the robot was going to be molested somewhere during the US trip.
Re: Niggers (Score:2)
Re:Niggers (Score:5, Insightful)
The perpetrators of this vandalism probably were bored, undereducated, underachieving young WHITE male(s)
You have any facts to back that up or is this just speculation?
Blacks are more commonly convicted when tried, and there are still more whites than blacks in philly, so it's probably still more likely. Also, consider that whites may have felt more likely to get away with such a crime.
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Re: Niggers (Score:1)
Where are you getting your facts? Philadelphia is not more white than black.
Or sounds like a bored kid crime race neutral to me though.
Surveillance video (Score:4, Informative)
Some surveillance video is out finally: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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Hey, we're not bored, we're just freezing!
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What do you mean? African or European coal?
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did you miss the part where it successfully traveled across Canada and parts of Europe?
Yes, this social experiment did tell us lots...
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Some people can just really milk a joke for a long time.