Hitchbot

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hitchbot at an exhibition

Hitchbot ( spelling hitchBOT , from English to hitchhike , "hitchhiking", and bot , short for robot) is an autonomous robot model developed by communication scientists Frauke Zeller from Ryerson University in Toronto and David Harris Smith from McMaster University in Hamilton was originally created to hitchhike across Canada from Halifax to Victoria .

Project goals

Hitchbot can hold conversations, communicate with its immediate surroundings via a display and a movable arm and contact the Internet via a radio module. However, it cannot move on its own and is therefore dependent on people being taken along in their cars.

One of the goals of the social experiment was to find out whether a robot can rely on such cooperation from strangers. In addition, a discussion about the relationship between society and technology should be stimulated and knowledge gained about the interaction between humans and autonomous robots.

to travel

The 6,000-kilometer journey of the first hitchbot through Canada started on July 27, 2014. The hitchhiker was taken for the first time, also thanks to his high profile in the media, immediately after he was abandoned by the project team. After three weeks and 18 ridesharing opportunities, it had reached its destination, Vancouver Island , and its creators initially sent it on a detour via some First Nations and Seattle before it reached Victoria.

Following the Canada trip, it was decided to expand the travel area. Beginning in Munich , a second version of the Hitchbot started on February 13, 2015 with Germany for the first time abroad. The TV show Galileo accompanied Hitchbot. After various stops at German sights, Hitchbot returned to Munich on February 22nd. The second trip abroad took Hitchbot from June 7th to 24th, 2015 through the Netherlands, where various events were attended.

A fourth trip, this time through the USA, from Salem in Massachusetts on the east coast to San Francisco on the west coast, started on July 17, 2015. After two weeks, the robot in Philadelphia was so destroyed by strangers that it was impossible to repair . The Canadian operators of Project Hitchbot write on the website "Sometimes bad things happen to good robots."

The first version of the hitchbot, which made the trip to Canada in 2014, will be exhibited in the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa from 2017 . Until then, those responsible hope to be able to send him to schools and public events, for example. The second version, which was destroyed on the trip to the USA, was restored in 2018 and has since been exhibited in the Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum in Paderborn.

technology

To make theft unattractive, the Hitchbots were built from simple components. Much were there a modified Android - Tablet and an Arduino -Board, an LED display, a servo motor-controlled Schwimmnudel segment with Putzhandschuh, as well as solar cells and a connection for the cigarette lighter to charge the battery. The cover consists of everyday objects such as a bucket and rubber boots. Hitchbot knows his position via the tablet's GPS module, which he communicates via the cellular module on his website and via social media such as Twitter , Facebook , Instagram and Google+ . After getting permission from his drivers, he also publishes photos there. In addition, its inventors kept a diary during his trip through Canada.

Hitchbot held conversations with its drivers and on the Internet using the Cleverscript AI platform from the Cleverbot chatbot . The other software of the Hitchbot was published on GitHub as open source under the GPL .

A sticker attached to the case should also inform the finder about the destination of the robot in the event of an empty battery and how it will be transported and recharged.

literature

Web links

Commons : Hitchbot  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Patrick Beuth: Hitchbot: Hitchhiking robot may come to Germany . Zeit Online, August 19, 2014.
  2. ^ A b Justin Chandler: HitchBOT retiring at Canada Science and Technology Museum . The Eyeopener, January 19, 2016
  3. ↑ Hitchhiking Robot: The Hitchbot is coming to Germany . Spiegel Online, January 21, 2015, accessed on the same day
  4. ^ Hitchbot: My Germany Travels
  5. ^ Hitchbot: My Netherlands Vacation
  6. ↑ Unknown destroys "hitchBOT" . RP Online, August 2, 2015, accessed August 2, 2015.
  7. ↑ Unknown destroys robot artwork "hitchBOT" , orf.at, accessed on August 3, 2015.
  8. ↑ Canada Science and Technology Museum press release of December 19, 2015. Accessed January 9, 2016.
  9. ↑ Famous hitchbot is alive and well - and settling down in Ottawa. In: www.cbc.ca. Retrieved January 8, 2016 .
  10. ^ Andrew Duffy: World traveler hitchBOT comes to rest at the Ottawa museum . Ottawa Citizen, December 15, 2015. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  11. ^ Robots on the move ., HNF Blog, August 21, 2018.