07/23/2026
hitchBOT was a child-sized robot created by Canadian professors David Harris Smith and Frauke Zeller to explore how people would treat a machine that depended entirely on human help. Unable to move independently, it hitchhiked by asking strangers to carry it and provide rides.
After successfully traveling across Canada and through Germany and the Netherlands, hitchBOT began its first American journey from Marblehead, Massachusetts, on July 17, 2015. Its intended destination was San Francisco.
Early on August 1, approximately two weeks into the trip, hitchBOT was vandalized beyond repair in Philadelphia. Its arms were torn off, its electronics were removed or destroyed, and its head was missing.
Zeller said the robot’s tablet, battery and other equipment shut down simultaneously, apparently when the attack occurred. The destruction prompted international coverage and widespread sadness over the end of an experiment centered on whether robots could trust humans.
