Philadelphia Hackers and Others Offer Brotherly Love To Fallen Robot

An anonymous reader writes: Since a hitchhiking robot was destroyed in Philadelphia over the weekend, there has been an overwhelming show of support according to its co-creators Frauke Zeller and David Smith. Makers from all over Philly have reached out and offered to help rebuild the robot. "We'll say that at this moment, if we get the OK from the creators to repair or replace the needed parts for HitchBOT, we'll be happy to do so," wrote Georgia Guthrie, executive director for a local makerspace called The Hacktory. "If not, we understand and we may just build ourselves a HitchBot2 to send along on its journey. We feel it's the least we can do to let everyone, especially the Robot community, know that Philly isn't so bad."

Comments

American Cities

[Anonymous Coward]

Why are American cities such rotten, dangerous hellholes? In Europe, (well Western Europe), nothing would have happened to this robot and the people would have simply have been amused by it.

I really don't understand USA. Is the government of these cities so poor?

Re:American Cities

[Anonymous Coward]

How European of you to presume that 1) American cities are rotten and 2) that the government is to blame for the actions of individuals.

Re:American Cities

[Anonymous Coward]

Blaming government? Hardly. How American of you to presume the government is not a reflection of the citizens it represents. And if you don't think that American cities are cesspools compared to their European counterparts, you *really* need to get out more.

Re:American Cities

[Lord Bitman]

The robot will *always* have been vandalised. That is the only end condition. It is a social experiment, to see if the robot gets vandalised, which runs until it happens. The experiment can be viewed as:

while !robot.IsVandalised() {
  if robot.NeedsRepair() {
    community.Repair(robot)
  } // do nothing
}
community.ExpressOutrageAtHumanity()

This only proves "at least one person will vandalise a (reports indicate already-broken) robot". We already knew that.

Re:American Cities

[mwvdlee]

What exactly are you trying to prove?
I think you're doing your nation a disservice by trying to defend it.

Re:American Cities

[DarkOx]

That is one view. I think though there may be some more complexity in it. I mean it asks how willing are people to empathize and assist a thing? How many people will see the project and be amused or want to help out before someone destructive does come along? Will our modern culture of fear 'interfere' how would the authorities respond etc, remember when they thought lightbrites just had to be bombs some years ago?

I think there was some artistic interest and merit in this. At least as much as covering the coast of Sydney in sheets. It was interesting momentarily now its over.

Re:American Cities

[afeeney]

Of course, western Europeans never vandalize. Especially not things of special interest or value.

Re:American Cities

[meta-monkey]

I wouldn't expect authorities to be afraid of it. I would expect them to recognize it as a piece of debris and remove it to the dump.

Re:American Cities

[TheCarp]

Really because I have been to Paris and, aside from being large and full of people speaking french, it was just like any American city. Hell, its the only place I have ever seen signs warning me to watch out for pickpockets. Its the only place I have seen organized groups driving around trying to sell people fake or stolen clothing (when the second car stops you with the same sob story about needing to get back to Italy with the same jackets in his car.... who needs "gas money" and will give me these two jackets if I can just help him out.... it becomes obvious whats happening, first guy I just walked away....second guy I haggled with lol fucking 100 euros for knock off jackets lol I paid a lot less than that)

Re:American Cities

[TheDarkMaster]

In Brazil, the robot would be destroyed on the first day if left in Rio de Janeiro, maybe it would last a few days more if left in a more southern state (Parana, Santa Catarina or Rio Grande do Sul). But if I had fallen into my hands, I would have several fun days trying to make it to the destination written on it :-D

Re:American Cities

[butchersong]

Bear in mind that Phili isn't representative of America. I always cringe when friends fly from overseas into the Phili international airport. They are a loud, angry, rude and inconsiderate lot when compared to most of the rest of the US population.

Re:American Cities

[cayenne8]

You're kidding, right? Sure, there is probably a greater chance of such a thing happening in the USA, but there are plenty of vandalas, morons, and drunk idiots in western Europe too, and it's perfectly likely that some such people would do something similar given the chance. Don't try to make out like Europe is a paradise of civility.

Hey, It's not like the robot got shot or anything....

:D

Re:American Cities

[operagost]

We don't need to defend American cities to Eurotrash AC trolls.

Re: American Cities

[ArmoredDragon]

"And if you don't think that American cities are cesspools compared to their European counterparts"

Oh, I see you've never heard of this one city called London...

Re:American Cities

[operagost]

Who abbreviates Philadelphia as "Phili"? I don't think you have ever been to Philly, or could even point it out on a map.

Re:American Cities

[Locke2005]

Canadians: they only destroy things when they lose a hockey game!

Re:American Cities

[CohibaVancouver]

Why are American cities such rotten, dangerous hellholes?

Because FREEDOM, you socialist scumbag.

Re:American Cities

[ksheff]

the US State Department should put out travel warnings for US cities like it does those of other nations.

Re:American Cities

[KGIII]

There's a bug in your code.

while !robot.IsVandalised() {

    community.ExpressMosquitoOutrageAtHumanity()

    if robot.NeedsRepair() {

        community.Repair(robot)

    } // do nothing
}

Now there is a bug in your code.

Re:American Cities

[Anonymous Cow Ward]

I disagree; they're a lot better than New Yorkers, for instance. Not nearly as nice as the Midwest, but for an East Coast city it's not bad. Unless you're in North Philly, of course.

Self defense?

[invictusvoyd]

This time on they could put a hidden laser in HitchBot2 for self defense so they wont need a HitchBot3 a couple of months later .

Re:Self defense?

[N!k0N]

Nah, they just have to give it enough programming that it can fix itself after the goons try killing it ... though you're not really gonna find a well-stocked radio shack these days.

Re:Self defense?

[Megane]

I'm waiting for HitchBot5 because it'll be ALIVE! (and with a frickin' laser, too)

NO DISASSEMBLE!

Re:Where is it?

[TheCycoONE]

Based on the CBC radio interview this morning (I haven't RTFA) they are still missing the head. Also there is conflicting information about where the parts were found.

Thug culture is to blame.

[Anonymous Coward]

In the United States, there is something called "thug culture". It glorifies things like not getting any sort of a useful education, not getting a legitimate job, joining gangs, engaging in violence, engaging in the abuse and peddling of drugs, engaging in the abusive use of guns, committing theft, committing robbery, committing murder, and so forth. Rap music is one of the main ways that this culture is glorified and promoted in the media.

This is the kind of culture that resulted in the destruction of this robot. It's also the kind of culture that results in its participants attacking police officers, then getting shot by these officers when they have to defend themselves from violence.

The worst part, though, is that many Americans refuse to acknowledge (although they do know it to be true) that this is a rotten, degenerate culture. In fact, they blame everybody but the thugs for the situation that the thugs are in! According to these apologists, it isn't the thugs' faults that they totally rejected all of the free education provided to them and refuse to participate in legitimate society. And according to them the police should just stand there and allow these thugs to violently attack them. As long as these apologists keep on defending what really is an indefensibly terrible culture, we'll keep seeing incidents like this where police are maliciously attacked, and things like this travelling robot are unnecessarily destroyed.

Re:Thug culture is to blame.

[Chris Johnson]

In the United States, there is something called "thug culture". It glorifies things like not getting any sort of a useful education, not getting a legitimate job, joining gangs, engaging in violence, engaging in the abuse and peddling of drugs, engaging in the abusive use of guns, committing theft, committing robbery, committing murder, and so forth.

It works so well, sometimes we call 'em 'bankers' and 'republicans' and 'capitalists'.

A fish rots from the head down, friend. If there's lower class thuggery it only shows they've learned the lessons of America well. Literally everything you said is the moral standards of the ruling class except for 'drugs' read 'pharmaceuticals', for 'robbery' read 'arbitrage', and well, I guess nothing else need be changed.

It's nice you calling for unilateral disarmament, but mind your own thugs first please. Nobody's buying it.

Re:Thug culture is to blame.

[mc6809e]

I understand that the same sort of thing exists in the UK, the so-called 'yob culture'.

I'm not sure that sort of thing is as tolerated in other european countries, though, where there is less reverence for freedom. There seems to be a segment of the USA and UK that believe "freedom" means the freedom to fark over others and their property and to raise hell without restraint.

It's too bad. Such people are one day going to destroy the tradition of freedom in those countries.

Re:Thug culture is to blame.

[Anonymous Coward]

In the US, "freedom" is a legal right.
Outside US, "freedom" is a moral right.
The difference is that outside US, people don't defend being a dick by claiming "freedom".

Re:Thug culture is to blame.

[drinkypoo]

Literally everything you said is the moral standards of the ruling class except for 'drugs' read 'pharmaceuticals', for 'robbery' read 'arbitrage', and well, I guess nothing else need be changed.

Now, now, that's not true at all! The rich don't usually do their own dirty work. They drive other people into poverty, and then have them do it in order to try to survive. That way, they can keep the blood off of their own suit.

Re:Thug culture is to blame.

[JMJimmy]

Umm, no. It was a couple douchebag "pranksters" looking for fame. The culprits are Jesse Wellens & Ed Bassmaster, the last people to pick up the hitchbot & the ones who released this fake video: https://twitter.com/CBCNews/st... You can tell its fake because Google maps shows there's no surveillance cameras in the area (confirmed the local Fox News affiliates) and the angle is too low. What they did was stage it, they left the bot in one place (shown on local news footage) but later returned to stage the publicity stunt using their own camera & adding effects to the video to make it look more like security footage. Like so: https://twitter.com/JMJimmy1/s... Fortunately they're complete idiots and people saw through it right away. Not only did they recognize Ed Bassmaster in the video, they noticed his truck parked across the street. Meanwhile they've generated hundreds of thousands of views on various YouTube videos to rake in $$$ for their vandalism.

Re:Thug culture is to blame.

[Anonymous Coward]

And don't forget, the rich assholes who refuse to spend money to fix social problems are also screeching loudly for tougher prison sentences and pretending that failure to address poverty is why you have more crime.

It's a refusal to fix the problem and look at reality, and instead treat them like separate things.

Just like all the assholes who want abortion outlawed but are unwilling to help fund the raising of the children born to people who can't afford to raise them.

It's puritanical assholes demanding punishment, and then pretending like the social problems sprang into existence in a vacuum and acting like fixing those issues shouldn't be fixed by society.

If you have a thug culture it's because the wealthy have created it by refusing to do anything except demand punishment all the while spouting scripture and moralizing about stuff they don't understand.

Somehow Christians have been hoodwinked by Republicans into thinking Jesus really did tell them to say "fuck you" to everybody else.

The religious right somehow votes for people who stand for the opposite things they claim god told them to do.

Damned right the wealthy is causing your social problems. Leaving people to die in poverty means they have to find other ways to get by -- which means they turn to crime because there's nothing left for them.

Re:Thug culture is to blame.

[iggymanz]

You are funny, trying to justify the actions of savages who refuse to take responsibility for themselves and are essentially adult babies throwing a tantrum. No respect for themselves, for others, for rule of law, or their spawn. They are a lost cause

Re:Thug culture is to blame.

[Anonymous Coward]

It works so well, sometimes we call 'em 'bankers' and 'republicans' and 'capitalists'.
Uh huh. So favorite your 'group' got called out for being douches you want to sling names. Nice. Look to yourself as to what is wrong. You want to divide and classify instead of unify and help.

Or you could like this republican, and help these thugs become ex thugs. They see my wealth and want it. I teach them how to get it. An earned dollar is more precious than a stolen one. An earned dollar I can proudly spend. A stolen one I have to hide that I have it. People do not realize that America IS the land of opportunity. Our poorest poor are usually much better off than many 3rd world countries. If you sit around and make excuses you get nothing. If you DO something you may actually get something or nothing. But you at least tried and have a plan for next time.

I have had people tell me I am nuts for not living off of the free food centers around here. I mean really argue and yell at me about it. I tell them I leave that food and donate that food for people who need it. I have had people ask me to commit fraud to enable their thug life. I flat out refuse then show them all the things they are doing wrong. Eventually they realize I am right. They then come back and I show them how to live a better life.

Many are there in this life because they do not even conceive of a better life. They believe they are the worst dregs of life because people like you tell them they are. I show them they are doing wrong and making their own lives worse AND show them how to get out. They are just people who have made bad decisions and have had bad decisions made for them. Bad decisions are like a thousand little cuts and each one digs deeper. Each one makes it harder to be better.

But people like you make the problem even WORSE. You point to someone else and say 'but they are doing worse'. Who the F cares? Well you do. But that sort of mentality is 4th grade mentality. Little Billy got to spit at little Sara and nothing happened so why do you punish ME?! Well we are not talking about little Billy are we Chris?

You point at 'republicans' as 'evil'. I point to greed and pride as evil. Both 'parties' are equally guilty of it. You point to the 1% and call them republicans. Never mind the top of that class self call themselves democrats. When you come down off your high horse you can get to work and help the rest of us make this a great world to live in.

Re:Thug culture is to blame.

[fustakrakich]

Now now, don't blame the thugs. They're just following the example of every other big business.

Re:Thug culture is to blame.

[Anonymous Coward]

Most Americans do agree that it is a degenerate sub-culture [1]. The problem is that the media panders to it with artist after artist glorifying their harem, arsenal, supply of psychoactive substances, and how they ventilated the poor schmoe down at the convenience store.

Why do record labels and movie studios pander to keeping this obnoxious sub culture alive? It makes money:

1: Private prisons benefit a lot from felonies, especially ones committed with a firearm since those grant mandatory sentences for a long time.
2: It gives an identity, which keeps a customer base going for that genre of music.
3: Crime keeps the news stories coming and helps keep the press getting eyeballs (and money). Not just here in the US, but overseas where people can snicker at what a hellhole the US is.
4: It encourages the distribution and consumption of drugs. This further ensures unemployability, and guarantees crime is the only occupation for bread-winning. Plus, people do stuff on drugs they would never do otherwise (such as how there is a 100% correlation between mass shooters and usage of psychoactive prescription meds.)
5: It is great fuel for politicians on both sides of the spectrum. They can argue about it for 20+ years, but not bother doing a thing.

This culture prides itself on chaos and destruction, because it preys on people who have no hope, and firmly keeps hope away from them.

How to fix it? Simple:

1: Reactivate the WPA and civilian worker programs, get people out of the ghettos and working on things nationwide. This doesn't cost much relatively, but will completely disintegrate what holds thug culture, which is hopelessness and unemployment. It has been proven that moving people out of their trouble areas goes far to break them of the hold habits. Yes, this will cost something... but far cheaper than life prison terms, and the costs of police/military to deal with thug culture as it stands.

2: Decriminalize and rehab. Meth is a major problem because it gets the user paranoid, and the fact that almost any quantity in possession earns a life sentence doesn't help anything. Europe does it right here.

3: Move to a school system similar to France or Germany that is voucher based. The public school system in the US is set up these days as a path from school to prison. It needs dismantled, as it has failed the US on all respects.

4: "Broken windows" policing. This is how NYC was turned into a shithole into one of the safest cities in the world.

Of course, politicians love thug culture. It gives them an enemy to keep the people scared of while real issues (China, Daesh, shitty trade agreements) can be ignored.

[1]: "Thug culture" is not a culture, as it really doesn't reflect the morals of most of the country.

Re:Thug culture is to blame.

[responsibleusername]

I really can't tell if this is serious, I'm hoping this is tongue in cheek, but I fear that it is not. If you are for real this is one of the more privileged things I've read in a long time.

Re:Thug culture is to blame.

[stdarg]

This article (http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20150803_Should_hitchBOT_live_on_.html) describes them as "Two Philadelphia-area pranksters with millions of online followers"

If their pranks involve filming themselves vandalizing things, is it really inaccurate to describe them as part of thug culture? If not in their day-to-day lives, at least their online personas?

The article also includes a quote from one of them: ""Cops tryin to blame Always Teste," Bassmaster tweeted earlier today."

That sounds pretty thuggy.

Re:Thug culture is to blame.

[cayenne8]

And don't forget, the rich assholes who refuse to spend money to fix social problems

Seriously?

Spending money does not and CAN not fix social problems. We've seen the beautifully exemplified by the non-success of the War on Poverty we've been waging for decades.

You can't buy your way out of immoral, uneducated, violent social problems that many of our US sub-cultures embrace. It has to come FROM the community itself.

If nothing else, the throwing of $$ at it and many programs meant to give help, have become ways of life for many that became generational cultures of dependence, and anger....and the loss of family and family values being passed onto the kids.

It has to come from within the people of the community themselves, you can buy it or legislate it.

Re:Thug culture is to blame.

[JMJimmy]

thug
TH/
noun
noun: thug; plural noun: thugs; noun: Thug
        1. a violent person, especially a criminal.
: a brutal ruffian or assassin : gangster

These guys are punks at best though more likely just posers.

Re:Thug culture is to blame.

[Krishnoid]

But thanks to the egalitarianism of technology, now we can all keep blood and other fluids off our formalwear.

Re:Thug culture is to blame.

[Nidi62]

This article (http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20150803_Should_hitchBOT_live_on_.html) describes them as "Two Philadelphia-area pranksters with millions of online followers"

If their pranks involve filming themselves vandalizing things, is it really inaccurate to describe them as part of thug culture? If not in their day-to-day lives, at least their online personas?

The article also includes a quote from one of them: ""Cops tryin to blame Always Teste," Bassmaster tweeted earlier today."

That sounds pretty thuggy.

I can't talk about Bassmaster, but my wife regularly watches Wellens, so I have seen a lot of his videos. His prank stuff mostly involves his girlfriend or doing stupid stuff out in public. The ghost projection trick he did the other day would certainly have freaked me out if it woke me at 4am. But I've never seen him destroy/vandalize anything.

Re:Thug culture is to blame.

[mattack2]

Why should anybody have their money *taken* to fix OTHER people's "social problems"?

People aren't being "left" in poverty.. They're not helping themselves out of poverty. Why don't they go to the already cheap (because they're subsidized) community colleges to learn something new to get a better job to make more money?

Re:Thug culture is to blame.

[uninformedLuddite]

shenanigans

It will never work

[AndyKron]

Try as you might you will never erase this country's image of Philly being a scum sucking cesspool of human flesh for killing the Hitchbot.

Re:It will never work

[drinkypoo]

Try as you might you will never erase this country's image of Philly being a scum sucking cesspool of human flesh for killing the Hitchbot.

Try as you might you will never make 99.44% of the Earth's population give one tenth of one fuck about something someone left on the side of the road, when they have important things to worry about.

Re:It will never work

[PPH]

This is true. But then I'd expect that 99.44% to just drive by and leave it alone. And HitchBOT isn't like my friend's Bentley that keeps getting keyed because, "Rich people suck".

Ths was a demonstration of pure sociopathy. And I'm surprised that law enforcement doesn't set up occasional stings to catch this kind of behavior. The resulting penalty doesn't have to be much. But get these people 'on the books' so that when they apply for a weapons permit or a license as a teacher, there is a red flag on their record.

Re:It will never work

[operagost]

At least it got people to stop bitching about the one dead lion out of hundreds because he had a cute name.

Re:It will never work

[operagost]

I'm pretty sure that whether you trash a "robot" (which, ironically, doesn't move and thus can't do any work) or a Bentley that doesn't belong to you, you're a jackass.

Re:It will never work

[Anonymous Cow Ward]

When was the last time you went there? It's really not that bad.

Re:It will never work

[operagost]

Yeah... that's called poaching, and like I said he wasn't the only one to be poached.

Stockholm Syndrome's a bitch, isn't it?

[barc0001]

>We feel it's the least we can do to let everyone, especially the Robot community, know that Philly isn't so bad.

Philly has a well known reputation and the fact that you're even talking about replacing HitchBot to demonstrate that it's rep is wrong is willfully ignoring it. If the reputation wasn't correct, you wouldn't need to replace the bot.

Re:Stockholm Syndrome's a bitch, isn't it?

[ralfg33k]

Sure. Philadelphia isn't as bad as Philadelphians say it is. http://digital.library.temple....

Re:Stockholm Syndrome's a bitch, isn't it?

[VorpalRodent]

All I know is that West Philadelphia is bad enough that people are leaving to live with wealthy relatives in Bel Air.

Trim your damned URLs ...

[gstoddart]

Come on guys, what the hell are you doing posting URLs with so much tracking crap embedded in it?

The third URL is arstechnica.com/the-multiverse/2015/08/we-can-rebuild-him-philadelphia-hackers-offer-brotherly-love-to-fallen-robot/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+arstechnica%2Findex+(Ars+Technica+-+All+content)

And the entirety of "?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+arstechnica%2Findex+(Ars+Technica+-+All+content)" is just tracking crap which shouldn't even be incluced.

Are you guys getting affiliate clicks? Or are you just too damned lazy to not give us URLs full of this crap?

To the guys offering to fix this, kudos and good on 'ya.

Re:Trim your damned URLs ...

[antdude]

I see this often even from computer experts. It drives me crazy!

I don't think it should be fixed!

[DarkOx]

Hitchbot has a technology component yes, but its hardly state of the art anything, except maybe in 'art' were we might call it avant garde.

Hitchbot if anything was a work of performance or installation art and the show is over. It traveled a lot of miles elicited a lot of responses, many very positive, some negative and finally one vicious and destructive. That is its story. It the work of its creators and we should of course respect their wishes for the project but I think we gain more insight in considering the run it had rather than extending it forever.

Hitchbot is something that can be put back together, but this world is full of things that can't. Even rebuilding / recreating hitchbot won't reproduce the creative moment when some person had the idea to make a hitch hiking robot.

Re:I don't think it should be fixed!

[drinkypoo]

Fixing it or not fixing it has no effect on its value as a piece of artwork, or as a cultural icon. If it doesn't get a new head, that is a statement of a sort. If it does get a new head, it's a different statement, but it's no more or less valid. It's just what happened.

There's no particular reason to follow or not follow the wishes of the creators, either. They put it out in the world and left it to its own devices. It belongs to all of us now.

I say fix it, slap it on the ass, and send it on its way

Re:I don't think it should be fixed!

[mwvdlee]

Even rebuilding / recreating hitchbot won't reproduce the creative moment when some person had the idea to make a hitch hiking robot.

IMHO, Hitchbot is mostly a social game, without lofty artistic goals. Rebuilding it from the original parts at the place where it was destroyed seems entirely within the implied "rules" of the game. Also "We can rebuild him...we have the technology" is quite fitting for a robotic US roadtrip.

Re:Where is it?

[JMJimmy]

Unreal that this is still going on. It's FAKED. They shot the "surveillance" footage themselves: https://twitter.com/JMJimmy1/s... - they stole the head and left the dismembered body behind to generate clicks & views.

Walnut and 16th St

[Applehu Akbar]

This should have been the neighborhood where the robot landed. It's near UPenn and has an Apple store, but it also hosts a significant population of Linux Orthodox. Either group would have given him shelter, fresh downloaded updates and a pint of RustOleum for the road. Instead he ended up in the Windows part of town. Had he looked around and seen the graffitoed blue screen stop codes all over the walls, he could still have taken a bus to safety with his remaining Bitcoin. Situational awareness, people!

Re:Walnut and 16th St

[The-Ixian]

I had a good laugh at this. Thanks, you made my morning! ... Linux Orthodox.. I love it!

Re:Where is it?

[JMJimmy]

To clarify, "They" are Jesse Wellens & Ed Bassmaster.

Re:Where is it?

[Anonymous Coward]

That sucks. Jesse Wellens is already pulling in more than a half million a year from his YouTube prankvsprank channel. Did he really need a few extra dollars from extra publicity that he was willing to mess up Hitchbot?

Blame the right and the left

[Anonymous Coward]

The war on poverty destroyed the work ethic and dignity. The left ought to learn that throwing money at a problem doesn't always help.

The war on drugs destroys lives and encourages bringing in more drugs. The right ought to learn that punishment doesn't always stop a behavior.

Reality TV and the Internet has destroyed shame.

Re:Where is it?

[cayenne8]

That sucks. Jesse Wellens is already pulling in more than a half million a year from his YouTube prankvsprank channel. Did he really need a few extra dollars from extra publicity that he was willing to mess up Hitchbot?

Hey, you can never have too much money!!

Re:Where is it?

[Anonymous Coward]

I would mod this up. There's also video evidence showing that Bassmaster was wearing the same shirt earlier as the guy in the video who destroyed the robot.

If there are any just desserts in this world, CMT would pull Bassmaster's upcoming TV program for this meanspirited act of vandalism.

Naturally, The Hacktory stepped in...

[LaurenCates]

Wasn't surprised to hear The Hacktory decided to get involved. Philly's got a pretty active "maker" culture, and isn't exactly short of a few colleges that have healthy STEM departments.

But what do I know, huh? Big cities are the worst places ever. Best to hole up as a hermit on a 50-acre property where the the gamma rays from space can't geolocate you.

Re:Welcome to Tchotchke's!

[LaurenCates]

As was sci-fi and children's cartoons before it.

Who cares? Nobody's forcing you to spend money on it.

Re:Where is it?

[TWX]

Hitchbot is a robot. Hitchbot has no gender.

Re:Where is it?

[DroolTwist]

"It's not a purse! It's European!"

Officer, someone stole my black leather bag with a strap!. You mean a purse? Yes, a purse. I carry a purse!

I love that episode.

A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link

[Locke2005]

The problem with relying on human nature of hundreds of humans in succession to send this experiment on it's way is obvious: it only takes one a-hole to break the chain. Didn't somebody try a similar experiment years ago, with a mobile robot that relied on passers-by to point it in the right direction? Again, relying on the kindness of strangers is only dependable in an environment with no griefers... kind of the same reason the internet sucks.

ROBOT LIVES MATTER!!

[cayenne8]

Hitchbot is a robot. Hitchbot has no gender.

ROBOT LIVES MATTER!!!

;)

Re:Where is it?

[gurnec]

Certainly looks staged, I agree.

For example, why is the sky pitch black despite it purportedly being 5:45 AM (well into civil twilight, just 15 min. before full sunrise)?

The remaining question is: are they small d-bags (staged a fake destruction after some unknown party performed the actual destruction) or big ones (did the actual destruction themselves)? I'd guess the former—in an effort to make others look foolish, that seems to be more their M.O., but the latter wouldn't surprise me all that much either....

Re:Where is it?

[JMJimmy]

All you need to look at is what is not in the video. There's no plants, sign post for the stop sign, or Elfreths Ally sign. That means the camera needs to be on the near side of the Ally sign where there's no reason for a security camera to be. Then you look at the angle it's shot from, it's low down, maybe 6 feet off the ground. A quick look at photos of the area for comparison and you can see the place that fits that description is the ledge of the Ally sign - a perfect place to plop a camera on to record the "murder". They also had to move the bot so it would fit in frame from that shooting location, that's why it's on a different bench from when the local news recorded it earlier.

Re:Where is it?

[gurnec]

Agree with everything else you're saying, except perhaps this:

They also had to move the bot so it would fit in frame from that shooting location, that's why it's on a different bench from when the local news recorded it earlier.

The "beating" would have occurred on-camera (IIUC) had they performed it in the same place as it had been found. I'd venture that they weren't in possession at the time of the staged beating because it was a few nights after it actually occurred, so they just fake-beat a non-existent bot (plus the two prop arms—who knows what they actually were) just beyond the camera's visibility.

As I said before, I think it's more likely that they just want to troll the interwebs than actually release footage of themselves destroying property. Just a guess, though.

Re:Where is it?

[JMJimmy]

If you look at the Fox29Philly news footage there are two benches, one on either side of the garbage can. It was left on the left hand side of the one closest to the Ally which is off camera (at the bottom) in the "security" video. You can only see the right hand side of that bench. Had they left the robot where it was you would have either seen nothing or seen the face of the "attacker" clearly. Hence, having to move it to the 2nd bench further away to fit in frame. The "body" was found on the other side of the wall. The dumping/head removal wasn't shown on video.

To your point of faking the security video after the fact, that is a possibility. The reason I don't think it was faked after the fact was that there were too many small details that were paid attention to. The "security" video shows the light reflecting off his face, the hands have the blue wrist straps, the right hand was closed at first and opens as he pulls it off, etc. If this was a pair of dumbass pranksters they would have just grabbed a noodle and a pair of gloves and that's it.

Re:Philly isn't so bad? Really?

[Anonymous Cow Ward]

A drunk Santa Claus who was vomiting on the field and making kids sad, yes.