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Hitchhiking Robot, Safe in Several Countries, Meets Its End in Philadelphia

37 points by raldi 11y ago

dang 11y ago
There have been astonishingly many posts about this story, but this one contains significant new information, so we're going to try unkilling, unburying, and unflagging it. Edit: since the "significant new information" turns out to be fraudulent, I guess we'll turn the flags back on, but leave the thread open for discussion.
- raldi 11y ago
  Was it killed due to flagging, or did mods bury it initially? If the latter, I apologize -- could you tell me a little more about why?
  - dang 11y ago
    It was killed due to user flagging. I'm pretty sure that was because it was a duplicate, in the sense that the story had already had a major discussion.
    - raldi 11y ago
      Oh, I'm sorry, I missed that -- I thought I had seen a mention of it on HN, but I searched all around before submitting and couldn't find it. Maybe that discussion was flagkilled too?
      - dang 11y ago
        Many of the previous posts show up at https://hn.algolia.com/?query=hitchbot&sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?query=hitchbot&sort=byPopularity&pre.... There were lists of links in some of these that were voluminous to the point of hilarity. Let me see if I can find one. Edit: hmm, yes: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9998853 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9998853.
        raldi 11y ago
        Wow. I know you have a long todo list and need to prioritize, but if you're ever considering adding a "why?" selector to the flag button, one of the options could be dupe and the flagger could paste in a URL or 20.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
snarfy 11y ago
Publicity stunt? http://www.barstoolsports.com/philadelphia/turns-out-the-death-of-hitchbot-was-just-a-freaking-publicity-stunt-for-a-prank-show/ http://www.barstoolsports.com/philadelphia/turns-out-the-dea...
- curiousjorge 11y ago
  wow. what a piece of shit.
- jmspring 11y ago
  So, wait, was the destruction of the robot orchestrated by the creators or some people in Philly?
rohitv 11y ago
The video surveillance is fake and is supposed to be a "prank". And it was recorded by the people who saw the bot last.
huac 11y ago
"Part of hitchBOT’s mission was to study how to create anthropomorphic robots that human beings can react to, empathically, so that when a person comes to work and finds a glorified garbage can with a Samsung Galaxy for a head at his or her desk, they don’t react by demolishing it and throwing it out the window. Or, at least, they feel badly after demolishing it." - @netw3rk
SCAQTony 11y ago
It was a fraud! A terrible fraud. http://factually.gizmodo.com/vloggers-faked-a-surveillance-video-but-did-they-destr-1721980896 http://factually.gizmodo.com/vloggers-faked-a-surveillance-v...
- raldi 11y ago
  How much of it was a fraud? The whole project? The destruction of the robot? Or was that part all true, and just the video was fake?
- noobermin 11y ago
  To be honest, unless the creators are in on it too, this still reflects poorly on Philly and the US as a whole.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- curiousjorge 11y ago
  I always felt something was odd about that 'surveillance' video. Well, it looks like we've been trolled but I'm sure the internet hate machine is waking up. I predict their little publicity stunt will ultimately end their personas and fame.

37 points by raldi 11y ago

dang 11y ago

There have been astonishingly many posts about this story, but this one contains significant new information, so we're going to try unkilling, unburying, and unflagging it. Edit: since the "significant new information" turns out to be fraudulent, I guess we'll turn the flags back on, but leave the thread open for discussion.

raldi 11y ago
Was it killed due to flagging, or did mods bury it initially? If the latter, I apologize -- could you tell me a little more about why?
- dang 11y ago
  It was killed due to user flagging. I'm pretty sure that was because it was a duplicate, in the sense that the story had already had a major discussion.
  - raldi 11y ago
    Oh, I'm sorry, I missed that -- I thought I had seen a mention of it on HN, but I searched all around before submitting and couldn't find it. Maybe that discussion was flagkilled too?
    - dang 11y ago
      Many of the previous posts show up at https://hn.algolia.com/?query=hitchbot&sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?query=hitchbot&sort=byPopularity&pre.... There were lists of links in some of these that were voluminous to the point of hilarity. Let me see if I can find one. Edit: hmm, yes: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9998853 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9998853.
      - raldi 11y ago
        Wow. I know you have a long todo list and need to prioritize, but if you're ever considering adding a "why?" selector to the flag button, one of the options could be dupe and the flagger could paste in a URL or 20.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

snarfy 11y ago

Publicity stunt? http://www.barstoolsports.com/philadelphia/turns-out-the-death-of-hitchbot-was-just-a-freaking-publicity-stunt-for-a-prank-show/ http://www.barstoolsports.com/philadelphia/turns-out-the-dea...

curiousjorge 11y ago
wow. what a piece of shit.
jmspring 11y ago
So, wait, was the destruction of the robot orchestrated by the creators or some people in Philly?

rohitv 11y ago

The video surveillance is fake and is supposed to be a "prank". And it was recorded by the people who saw the bot last.

huac 11y ago

"Part of hitchBOT’s mission was to study how to create anthropomorphic robots that human beings can react to, empathically, so that when a person comes to work and finds a glorified garbage can with a Samsung Galaxy for a head at his or her desk, they don’t react by demolishing it and throwing it out the window. Or, at least, they feel badly after demolishing it." - @netw3rk

SCAQTony 11y ago

It was a fraud! A terrible fraud. http://factually.gizmodo.com/vloggers-faked-a-surveillance-video-but-did-they-destr-1721980896 http://factually.gizmodo.com/vloggers-faked-a-surveillance-v...

raldi 11y ago
How much of it was a fraud? The whole project? The destruction of the robot? Or was that part all true, and just the video was fake?
noobermin 11y ago
To be honest, unless the creators are in on it too, this still reflects poorly on Philly and the US as a whole.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
curiousjorge 11y ago
I always felt something was odd about that 'surveillance' video. Well, it looks like we've been trolled but I'm sure the internet hate machine is waking up. I predict their little publicity stunt will ultimately end their personas and fame.