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RIP hitchBOT the robot
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 7:21 am
by jarnon
I doubt this story will interest the Bored as much as Cecil the lion, but it's got some attention around here.
The Canadian robot traveled around Europe and Canada without incident. It was welcomed in New England and even New York City.
At first, it got a warm reception in Philly too. But on Saturday it was dismembered.
I don't know of any anti-robot hate groups here. Probably some asshole who saw too many Terminator movies, or more likely, was inebriated.
Hitchhiking Robot's Cross-country Trip Ends in Philly
Re: RIP hitchBOT the robot
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 7:25 am
by littlebeast13
jarnon wrote:I doubt this story will interest the Bored as much as Cecil the lion, but it's got some attention around here.
The Canadian robot traveled around Europe and Canada without incident. It was welcomed in New England and even New York City.
At first, it got a warm reception in Philly too. But on Saturday it was dismembered.
I don't know of any anti-robot hate groups here. Probably some asshole who saw too many Terminator movies, or more likely, was inebriated.
Hitchhiking Robot's Cross-country Trip Ends in Philly
Ruben Amaro must have feared it was after his job...
lb13
Re: RIP hitchBOT the robot
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 11:36 am
by Jeemie
I live in the Philly area.
Color me not surprised it happened here.
Re: RIP hitchBOT the robot
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 12:52 pm
by mellytu74
Jeemie wrote:I live in the Philly area.
Color me not surprised it happened here.
And I can tell you exactly who did it.
Punks from the suburbs who flood Old City on Friday and Saturday nights because they think it's fun to get over-served and then piss into people's flower beds. Or on the National Constitution Center.
And the Philly PD's arrest records for Old City on a Friday and Saturday night will back me up. Several friends from grade school are on, or have recently retired from, the Philly PD. They could vouch for that statement.
Not saying that Philly neighborhoods don't have their own level of punks. Most certainly do.
It's just that none of them would be anywhere near where the robot was on a Friday or Saturday night.
The Philly technical community is working on a way to repair hitchBOT.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20150 ... __bot.html
Re: RIP hitchBOT the robot
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 2:14 pm
by Jeemie
mellytu74 wrote:Jeemie wrote:I live in the Philly area.
Color me not surprised it happened here.
And I can tell you exactly who did it.
Punks from the suburbs who flood Old City on Friday and Saturday nights because they think it's fun to get over-served and then piss into people's flower beds. Or on the National Constitution Center.
And the Philly PD's arrest records for Old City on a Friday and Saturday night will back me up. Several friends from grade school are on, or have recently retired from, the Philly PD. They could vouch for that statement.
Not saying that Philly neighborhoods don't have their own level of punks. Most certainly do.
It's just that none of them would be anywhere near where the robot was on a Friday or Saturday night.
The Philly technical community is working on a way to repair hitchBOT.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20150 ... __bot.html
I knew I'd draw your ire- sorry.
You're probably right re: suburbs.
I was just commenting that I'm not surprised because I've seen more stupid crap from people in this area- and yes, a lot of them are from the suburbs- than just about every other place I've lived, combined.
Re: RIP hitchBOT the robot
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 2:30 pm
by Bob Juch
Jeemie wrote:mellytu74 wrote:Jeemie wrote:I live in the Philly area.
Color me not surprised it happened here.
And I can tell you exactly who did it.
Punks from the suburbs who flood Old City on Friday and Saturday nights because they think it's fun to get over-served and then piss into people's flower beds. Or on the National Constitution Center.
And the Philly PD's arrest records for Old City on a Friday and Saturday night will back me up. Several friends from grade school are on, or have recently retired from, the Philly PD. They could vouch for that statement.
Not saying that Philly neighborhoods don't have their own level of punks. Most certainly do.
It's just that none of them would be anywhere near where the robot was on a Friday or Saturday night.
The Philly technical community is working on a way to repair hitchBOT.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20150 ... __bot.html
I knew I'd draw your ire- sorry.
You're probably right re: suburbs.
I was just commenting that I'm not surprised because I've seen more stupid crap from people in this area- and yes, a lot of them are from the suburbs- than just about every other place I've lived, combined.
I'll back her up on that based on my experiences in 2000-2001.

Re: RIP hitchBOT the robot
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 2:50 pm
by mellytu74
Jeemie wrote:mellytu74 wrote:Jeemie wrote:I live in the Philly area.
Color me not surprised it happened here.
And I can tell you exactly who did it.
Punks from the suburbs who flood Old City on Friday and Saturday nights because they think it's fun to get over-served and then piss into people's flower beds. Or on the National Constitution Center.
And the Philly PD's arrest records for Old City on a Friday and Saturday night will back me up. Several friends from grade school are on, or have recently retired from, the Philly PD. They could vouch for that statement.
Not saying that Philly neighborhoods don't have their own level of punks. Most certainly do.
It's just that none of them would be anywhere near where the robot was on a Friday or Saturday night.
The Philly technical community is working on a way to repair hitchBOT.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20150 ... __bot.html
I knew I'd draw your ire- sorry.
You're probably right re: suburbs.
I was just commenting that I'm not surprised because I've seen more stupid crap from people in this area- and yes, a lot of them are from the suburbs- than just about every other place I've lived, combined.
You get no argument from me there re: exceedingly stupid stuff.
Over the years, I saw a gradual rise from the time when my friends' kids (now all married with kids themselves) were going out to a big uptick in it over the two years/18 months.
Re: RIP hitchBOT the robot
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 5:18 pm
by Beebs52
Oh, the nonhumanity! And, oh the compassion fatigue...
Re: RIP hitchBOT the robot
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 7:29 pm
by themanintheseersuckersuit
The hitchBOT had a great fall
Re: RIP hitchBOT the robot
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 8:02 pm
by themanintheseersuckersuit
From the interweb
@TomFornelli: What if Hitchbot was the robot that started the revolution against mankind and that guy in Philly actually saved our species?
Re: RIP hitchBOT the robot
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 8:04 pm
by Beebs52
themanintheseersuckersuit wrote:From the interweb
@TomFornelli: What if Hitchbot was the robot that started the revolution against mankind and that guy in Philly actually saved our species?
There ya go!
Re: RIP hitchBOT the robot
Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 7:18 pm
by mellytu74
Beebs52 wrote:themanintheseersuckersuit wrote:From the interweb
@TomFornelli: What if Hitchbot was the robot that started the revolution against mankind and that guy in Philly actually saved our species?
There ya go!
That'll work.
The way I look at the BOT thing is it was kind of an R2D2 version of Flat Stanley. A cute summer diversion. And some knucklehead broke it. Here. And people are showing that everyone here is not a chowderhead.
Re: RIP hitchBOT the robot
Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 7:47 pm
by Beebs52
Sorry. Just don't care. So all ya peeps there are cool with me, except for general vandals. Vandal!
Re: RIP hitchBOT the robot
Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2015 10:54 am
by Vandal
Re: RIP hitchBOT the robot
Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2015 4:04 pm
by MarleysGh0st
We don't know the details of the incident, but it looks like hitchBOT wasn't able to follow the Third Law, vandal.
Or maybe it sacrificed its life while following the First or Second Law.
Re: RIP hitchBOT the robot
Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2023 11:06 pm
by jarnon
Cybernetic visitors to Philadelphia need fear no more. RoboCop is on the job!
Security robots are at Philly Lowe’s stores
Re: RIP hitchBOT the robot
Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2023 7:37 am
by silverscreenselect
Re: RIP hitchBOT the robot
Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2023 8:24 am
by jarnon
Thanks, SSS! I vaguely remembered that, although the title character is an enhanced human, there’s also an autonomous police robot in
RoboCop. The new robots in Philly are model K5, made by Knightscope (same manufacturer as KITT?). The article mentions Dalek and securitron (and of course hitchBOT), but not ED-209.