HitchBOT destroyed in Philadelphia, ending U.S. tour | Hacker News Reader

HitchBOT destroyed in Philadelphia, ending U.S. tour

cbc.ca

71 pointskelukelugames53 comments

It's too bad that HitchBOT didn't upload images of its attackers. A US version of HitchBOT ought to have live video and more accurate GPS ;)

Edit: From coverage of the upcoming US tour:[0]

> So far, there are no signs of anything nefarious done to the robot, but there's also no proof. Its creators intentionally cast their gaze aside.

> "We want to be very careful to avoid surveillance technologies with this; that's not what we're trying to do here," Smith said.

I get that. Maybe the attackers in Philly suspected surveillance. But we have no idea who they are, or why they did it.

[0] http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/hitchbot-to-start-u-s-jour...

I was hoping HitchBOT was a robot based on Christopher Hitchens. He would have been able to fend for himself, and Hitchslap anyone who attacked him.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hitchslap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQorzOS-F6w

It wasn't even armed. What did they expect?!

Well it's not anymore. There is a very clear picture of torn off arms lying in the gutter.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 11, Episode 1: "The Gang Finds A Robot"

I'm actually surprised the police didn't destroy it before someone else did. Something that big, obviously wired up with electronics, sitting on the side of the road with an invitation for people to put it in their car?

Call me paranoid, but that sounds a lot more like a bomb than a lot of other things police in the US have destroyed (e.g. blinking LED artwork, pinhole cameras).

I'm sad to say it, but that was my initial thought as well. In fact, it calls to mind the Mooninite Bomb Scare [1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_bomb_scare

Bill Burr: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNnkDjMVJqE

Yea pretty much what we all expect from philly at this point.

The difference being the robot wasn't telling a bunch of bad jokes which led to its deserved destruction.

It made it all the way across Canada, and around Germany, but before it even leaves the US east coast it's been destroyed.

They should have also done Japan or Taiwan or some other countries where it would have survived before attempting the USA. Oh well.

Reminds me of the library trek in Asimov's Bicentennial Man. Asimov had a great perspective on the various ways humans would react to robots. His robot series is a really enjoyable read (and once you finish those, there's a good chance you'll want to read the Foundation series as well).

We had similar problems trying to convince passers by to help a broken robot in Oakland:

http://www.donhopkins.com/home/RobotMovies/Empathy.mpg

His friend was more (but not very) successful working as a waiter:

http://www.donhopkins.com/home/RobotMovies/Servitude.mpg

You cannot help robot, TV, computer, or mobile phone because they are not alive. You can fix them, or throw out and buy new.

Prove you're not a robot! ;)

I'm curious about the background of those videos. What's the story?

Those were "One Minute Movies" we did with NBC in 2003, but that were never aired. Will Wright wrote those two and built the robots at the Stupid Fun Club, and I developed the robot control software and helped run the robots from an "undisclosed location" (the back of an FMC motorcoach).

http://www.allentownproductions.com/project.php?p=nbc

In 2003, NBC attempted to add a new feature to prime-time television with "One-Minute Movies." Each original movie unfolded in its first 30 seconds and ended with a cliffhanger, and then a conclusion in the last 30 seconds. The One-Minute Movies were to be used as interstitial programming between commercials and possibly where a show ends a minute earlier than its scheduled running time.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/04/business/media/04ADCO.html

Interesting. Thanks for the info!

This is a town that once booed Santa Claus. What would you expect?

It's funny to see how many people think this is peculiar to philly. This is HN, where people think it's ok to use SQL injection attacks against a website as long as the server responds 200 OK. If you as the operator don't want that to happen, then you need to build a better server to prevent it. Is it such a stretch to say if you don't want your robot vandalized, you need to build a better robot?

it's a bit tongue in cheek, but many people agree, that's telling

People forget to mention that Santa deserved it. And they didn't just boo him, they threw snowballs at him.

Philadelphia is the town that boos Santa Claus and throws batteries at baseball players.

Sigh... this is just offensive and ignorant. Philly threw snowballs at Santa Claus. We wouldn't let him off with a mere booing.

From Philly and I go to college in the city. Not really shocked that it happened with how bad the city is in certain areas. A block from Temple Uni a girl was hit in the head by a brick from a group of kids 7-13. If they didn't care about her, the robot did not stand a chance.

those kids need a good ol beating.

I'd like to say that I can't believe someone would do this, but I can.

As a resident of Philly I'd say you've got to remember the permanent class war happening here. Children die in elementary schools because there isn't enough funding for a school nurse.

To us on HN, a hitchhiking robot is a cute and friendly distraction. To someone with no capital or prospects a hitchhiking robot is a cruel joke, and to destroy it is an act of resistance. This perspective is often missed by the media and general discussion.

It would be interesting to hear what other types of property are ok to destroy in the name of social justice.

Anything belonging to rich people who couch their criticism in passive-aggressively neutral musing, I should expect.

Police cars.

I think the post you're replying to was mostly just trying to propose a possible narrative to explain this incident. We have no reason to believe this particular narrative is true, but trying to understand the motives for other people's actions is a healthy exercise, I think, and I'd be interested in hearing some of your possible explanations.

I don't agree with destroying hitchbot.

However, I can see a strong social justice argument for destroying the property of people who gain profit and/or power from destroying the lives of others. Their behaviors are profitable and there is no legal means to make their behaviors unprofitable, so doing illegal things that cost them money, such as destroying their property, is the only means to dis-incentivize their behavior.

I do think destruction of property can be an ethical action, but I don't think it's a smart thing to do for legal reasons.

By what process are you going to determine what constitutes "destroying the lives of others"?

Ugh, what a small-minded question. If you can't figure out a definition of "destroying the lives of others" that works for you, that's a failure of your own imagination. Use your brain. Just because there are a myriad of valid answers doesn't mean it's a deep, difficult question.

What's "cruel" about it? I can see a few motivations, but that one I don't get.

Probably something to do with rubbing people's noses in the status/wealth differences, I'd expect. Don't send useless expensive toys out to interact with people in what you know are poor areas (even if, well, you didn't choose that to be where it went).

"To someone with no capital or prospects a hitchhiking robot is a cruel joke, and to destroy it is an act of resistance."

Give me a break, I grew up in a poorer place with worse health care and that is an act of vandalism and people who haven't been taught decent values. Don't make it some class warfare thing or inevitably.

It's not resistance. That is the talk of people trying to justify crappy behavior and trying very hard not to blame the people who did it. They did a criminal act. Destroying the robot didn't save someone, it wasn't the final resort of someone trying to feed their family, it was just an act of destruction.

> Children die in elementary schools because there isn't enough funding for a school nurse.

You mean there isn't enough funding for the number of students there. There's plenty of funding for fewer students.

Destroying a robot isn't an act of resistance because the robot wasn't oppressing them nor was it responsible for their situation in life.

edit: as always feel free to engage in discussion instead of drive-by downvoting

We don't have school nurses in, i believe, all of europe. Are children here dying in school? I didn't think so.

I have no idea to which country you are referring. I can't find any broad consensus, and all I can find are postings for internships in student health services.

I also think you're really underestimating the severity of the problem we have here. I'm not talking about a reduction in on-site staff towards a centralized service. I'm referencing a school known to be infected with mold[1] where a child died[2] from an asthma attack solely because there were no health workers or medical supplies available. These deaths[3] have been ongoing since the 2013 school year when the city decided to close 23 schools[4] and severely overcrowd the rest.

This of course on top of the police brutality that has taken national headlines lately but have been a permanent fixture of this city. I highly recommend the documentary Let The Fire Burn[5] for a clear example of this type of warfare.

[1]: http://citypaper.net/News/Philly-School-District-blocks-a-fe... [2]: http://citypaper.net/News/He-says-his-daughter-might-be-aliv... [3]: http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/another-student-dies-school-no-nu... [4]: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/08/education/philadelphia-off... [5]: http://netflix.com/Movie/Let-the-Fire-Burn/70274329

Aren't drunk teenagers known for vandalizing things? It doesn't even need to be motivated by anything to do with the robot itself, breaking shit's just plain fun.

Time to throw away that bucket list.

http://www.hitchbot.me/usa/bucket-list/

Ummmm from Philly friends... I'm sorry we let this happen :(

I suppose that HitchBOT has played out half of the anti-hitchhiking narrative - hitchhiker as victim. Time to build a second robot?

Based on the pictures of what was taken and left leads to one thing - scrappers. Leave any valuable metal or copper wiring laying around providers a quick $ to scrappers.

It made it through other countries fine and then was vandalized early into its trip in the US.

I am not surprised.

welcome to murica!

And so the war between humans and robots began.

Current Score humans: 1 robots: 0

Once the singularity [0] hits, the human score will be a constant.

So please don't make this an action of all of us, I'm not entirely sure robots are not vengeful.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity

Reply on news.ycombinator.com