hitchBOT is going to try and cross Canada this summer as a hitchhiker. Why that’s novel: it’s ostensibly a robot made out of a bucket.
“This is both an artwork and social robotics experiment,” Zeller and Harris told me in an email. “Usually, we are concerned whether we can trust robots, e.g. as helpers in our homes. But this project takes it the other way around and asks: can robots trust human beings?”
There’s more about the project here, and the bot is already on Twitter:
I have a big family of researchers in Toronto helping me get ready for my trip. Want to meet them? http://t.co/efU9rcGPxu #abouthitchbot
— hitchBOT (@hitchBOT) June 5, 2014
hitchBOT is also on Instagram, if you were interested.
This is a cool way to turn the central idea of the next 50 or so years — can we truly trust the machines? (cue panic about a Turing Test) — into a social project across a sun-dappled summer in Canada. I think hitchBOT is cute, and that’s going to help it in its journey — humans don’t destroy cute little things, in general — but trying to traverse an entire nation when you’re powered by car lighters and Wikipedia might be a tall order. I’m rooting for him (her?), though.
Its like you read my mind! You seem to know a lot about this,
like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you could do with some pics to drive the message home a bit, but other than that, this is excellent blog.
An excellent read. I’ll definitely be back.
That is very attention-grabbing, You are an overly
professional blogger. I have joined your rss
feed and look ahead to in the hunt for extra of your wonderful
post. Also, I have shared your site in my social
networks