The adventures of HitchBot, the low-cost robot attempting to hitchhike across Canada, is a new direction for the integration of androids into everyday life. It was constructed for less than Dh4,000 using off-the-shelf parts that range from high tech (solar panels and computer motherboards) to the lowest of low tech (pool noodles and dishwashing gloves).
So far, it has travelled from Halifax, Nova Scotia, as far as Port Credit, Ontario, on its way to Vancouver in British Columbia. Like generations of hitchhikers before it, HitchBot is repaying the generosity of the drivers that pick it up by helping pass the time – its creators programmed it to have basic conversations and to answer trivia questions.
Despite the introduction of labour-saving robots like the Roomba automatic vacuum cleaner, malevolent robots in The Terminator and The Matrix series mean some people have a love-hate relationship with them. While some ask if humans are safe from robots, HitchBot reverses the question to ask whether robots are safe from humans.
The ultimate observation is that this is a journey we are taking together, whether it is the drivers picking up HitchBot, those following its progress on HitchBot.me, or generally as society adjusts to robots in everyday life – just so long as they don’t look like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
