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HitchBOT destroyed in Philadelphia, ending U.S. tour
- qzw 11y agoThis is a town that once booed Santa Claus. What would you expect?
- tedunangst 11y agoIt's funny to see how many people think this is peculiar to philly. This is HN, where people think it's ok to use SQL injection attacks against a website as long as the server responds 200 OK. If you as the operator don't want that to happen, then you need to build a better server to prevent it. Is it such a stretch to say if you don't want your robot vandalized, you need to build a better robot?
- musername 11y agoit's a bit tongue in cheek, but many people agree, that's telling
- SamReidHughes 11y agoPeople forget to mention that Santa deserved it. And they didn't just boo him, they threw snowballs at him.
- misiogames 11y agowelcome to murica!
- sithadmin 11y agoIt's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 11, Episode 1: "The Gang Finds A Robot"
- LukeB_UK 11y agoI'd like to say that I can't believe someone would do this, but I can.
- tammer 11y agoAs a resident of Philly I'd say you've got to remember the permanent class war happening here. Children die in elementary schools because there isn't enough funding for a school nurse. To us on HN, a hitchhiking robot is a cute and friendly distraction. To someone with no capital or prospects a hitchhiking robot is a cruel joke, and to destroy it is an act of resistance. This perspective is often missed by the media and general discussion.
- hnpc123 11y agoIt would be interesting to hear what other types of property are ok to destroy in the name of social justice.
- ForHackernews 11y agoAnything belonging to rich people who couch their criticism in passive-aggressively neutral musing, I should expect.
- hnpc123 11y agoSounds like a wonderful society that SJWs envision. No property rights for anyone who is deemed rich and expresses unpopular views.
- musername 11y agoIt's a sense of realism where only those rights have meaning, that you can up hold, with brute force, the same way wealth f.ex. allows threatening and engaging adversaries with lawyers and court fees.
- dang 11y agoPlease don't make throwaway accounts to conduct political flamewars on HN. Please don't conduct political flamewars on HN at all.
- 11y ago
- zer00eyz 11y agoBill Burr: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNnkDjMVJqE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNnkDjMVJqE Yea pretty much what we all expect from philly at this point.
- decisiveness 11y agoThe difference being the robot wasn't telling a bunch of bad jokes which led to its deserved destruction.
- svisser 11y agoTime to throw away that bucket list. http://www.hitchbot.me/usa/bucket-list/ http://www.hitchbot.me/usa/bucket-list/
- DonHopkins 11y agoWe had similar problems trying to convince passers by to help a broken robot in Oakland: http://www.donhopkins.com/home/RobotMovies/Empathy.mpg http://www.donhopkins.com/home/RobotMovies/Empathy.mpg His friend was more (but not very) successful working as a waiter: http://www.donhopkins.com/home/RobotMovies/Servitude.mpg http://www.donhopkins.com/home/RobotMovies/Servitude.mpg
- lisivka 11y agoYou cannot help robot, TV, computer, or mobile phone because they are not alive. You can fix them, or throw out and buy new.
- DonHopkins 11y agoProve you're not a robot! ;)
- eric_h 11y ago> Copyright 2003 Warner Brothers Television I'm curious about the background of those videos. What's the story?
- DonHopkins 11y agoThose were "One Minute Movies" we did with NBC in 2003, but that were never aired. Will Wright wrote those two and built the robots at the Stupid Fun Club, and I developed the robot control software and helped run the robots from an "undisclosed location" (the back of an FMC motorcoach). http://www.allentownproductions.com/project.php?p=nbc http://www.allentownproductions.com/project.php?p=nbc In 2003, NBC attempted to add a new feature to prime-time television with "One-Minute Movies." Each original movie unfolded in its first 30 seconds and ended with a cliffhanger, and then a conclusion in the last 30 seconds. The One-Minute Movies were to be used as interstitial programming between commercials and possibly where a show ends a minute earlier than its scheduled running time. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/04/business/media/04ADCO.html http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/04/business/media/04ADCO.html
- elektromekatron 11y agoAnd so the war between humans and robots began.
- flihp 11y agoCurrent Score humans: 1 robots: 0
- dmichulke 11y agoOnce the singularity [0] hits, the human score will be a constant. So please don't make this an action of all of us, I'm not entirely sure robots are not vengeful. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity
- mirimir 11y agoIt's too bad that HitchBOT didn't upload images of its attackers. A US version of HitchBOT ought to have live video and more accurate GPS ;) Edit: From coverage of the upcoming US tour:[0] > So far, there are no signs of anything nefarious done to the robot, but there's also no proof. Its creators intentionally cast their gaze aside. > "We want to be very careful to avoid surveillance technologies with this; that's not what we're trying to do here," Smith said. I get that. Maybe the attackers in Philly suspected surveillance. But we have no idea who they are, or why they did it. [0] http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/hitchbot-to-start-u-s-journey-after-travelling-canada-europe-1.3156252 http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/hitchbot-to-start-u-s-jour...
- DonHopkins 11y agoI was hoping HitchBOT was a robot based on Christopher Hitchens. He would have been able to fend for himself, and Hitchslap anyone who attacked him. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hitchslap http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hitchslap https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQorzOS-F6w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQorzOS-F6w
- joesmo 11y agoIt wasn't even armed. What did they expect?!
- jqm 11y agoWell it's not anymore. There is a very clear picture of torn off arms lying in the gutter.
- ForHackernews 11y agoPhiladelphia is the town that boos Santa Claus and throws batteries at baseball players.
- SamReidHughes 11y agoSigh... this is just offensive and ignorant. Philly threw snowballs at Santa Claus. We wouldn't let him off with a mere booing.
- lgunsch 11y agoIt made it all the way across Canada, and around Germany, but before it even leaves the US east coast it's been destroyed.
- brobinson 11y agoThey should have also done Japan or Taiwan or some other countries where it would have survived before attempting the USA. Oh well.
- psherman 11y agoReminds me of the library trek in Asimov's Bicentennial Man. Asimov had a great perspective on the various ways humans would react to robots. His robot series is a really enjoyable read (and once you finish those, there's a good chance you'll want to read the Foundation series as well).
- blincoln 11y agoI'm actually surprised the police didn't destroy it before someone else did. Something that big, obviously wired up with electronics, sitting on the side of the road with an invitation for people to put it in their car? Call me paranoid, but that sounds a lot more like a bomb than a lot of other things police in the US have destroyed (e.g. blinking LED artwork, pinhole cameras).
- avemg 11y agoI'm sad to say it, but that was my initial thought as well. In fact, it calls to mind the Mooninite Bomb Scare [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_bomb_scare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_bomb_scare
- kup0 11y agoIt made it through other countries fine and then was vandalized early into its trip in the US. I am not surprised.
- msds 11y agoI suppose that HitchBOT has played out half of the anti-hitchhiking narrative - hitchhiker as victim. Time to build a second robot?
- nsfyn55 11y agoUmmmm from Philly friends... I'm sorry we let this happen :(
- quaffapint 11y agoBased on the pictures of what was taken and left leads to one thing - scrappers. Leave any valuable metal or copper wiring laying around providers a quick $ to scrappers.
- jimkri 11y agoFrom Philly and I go to college in the city. Not really shocked that it happened with how bad the city is in certain areas. A block from Temple Uni a girl was hit in the head by a brick from a group of kids 7-13. If they didn't care about her, the robot did not stand a chance.
- roflchoppa 11y agothose kids need a good ol beating.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]