Who killed hitchBOT? Video adds new chapter to murky Philadelphia murder mystery

HitchBOT’s Canadian creators aren’t pressing charges for their hitchhiking robot’s grisly dismemberment in Philadelphia this weekend, but social media is determined to solve the case anyway – even though the facts of the matter get murkier by the minute.

Grainy surveillance video, posted by one of the two YouTube vloggers who last saw hitchBOT, allegedly shows a man curb-stomping the robot and pulling off its limbs early Saturday morning.

The video has fuelled more online outrage over the demise of hitchBOT, but others are questioning the authenticity and provenance of the video, given that the man who supplied it also runs a YouTube prank show. Meanwhile, the two vloggers are challenging accusations on social media that they were the ones responsible for hitchBOT’s destruction.

Here is what we know so far about hitchBOT’s final journey and its aftermath.

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The hapless robot

HitchBOT was a social experiment designed by Frauke Zeller of Ryerson University and David Smith of McMaster University. They were interested in the kindness of strangers: Would passersby help hitchBOT, an immobile machine with limited preprogrammed conversation skills, get from one destination to the next?

In Canada, at least, it did. The robot – equipped with solar panels, a GPS tracker and a camera to take snapshots of its environs every 20 minutes – trekked from Halifax to Victoria in 26 days last summer, and also hitchhiked across Germany.

(From the archives: hitchBOT's co-creator on his Canadian journey)

This time, the researchers were taking it across the United States, starting on a highway in Salem, Mass., on July 17 en route to San Francisco. In Boston, the robot was taken to a Red Sox game; in New York, it took a subway ride. Other items on its American bucket list included a photo of Mount Rushmore and a jazz outing in New Orleans.

But in Philadelphia this weekend, things took a dangerous turn.

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The last men who saw it

Video blogger Jesse Wellens, who runs the daily vlog BFvsGF and the prank show PrankvsPrank, found the robot on Friday night on the steps of Philadelphia’s art museum. He and comedian Ed Bassmaster documented their brief night together in a video posted to YouTube (begins at 7:47).

Mr. Wellens considered paying a taxi $350 to drive the robot to Washington before leaving it on a bench, as the robot’s instructions suggested. He left hitchBOT at Elfreth’s Alley, a Philadelphia landmark considered the oldest residential street in the United States.

And it was the last time anyone saw the robot alive. (Well, as alive as a robot can be.)

Over the weekend, Mr. Bassmaster challenged accusations on social media that he and Mr. Wellens were the ones who destoyed hitchBOT.

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The surveillance video

On Monday, Mr. Wellens said on Twitter that he had obtained surveillance video of the attack on hitchBOT. The contents of the video, which Mr. Wellens posted on Snapchat, could not be independently confirmed.

The video allegedly shows a man in a Philadelphia Eagles jersey stomping on the robot. Philly.com pointed out that, in his YouTube prank show, Mr. Bassmaster sometimes plays a Philadelphia hustler named Always Teste, who wears a Randall Cunningham jersey. Mr. Bassmaster trolled an ABC news reporter covering the hitchBOT case by identifying himself as Teste and giving the interview in character.

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The scientists

To hitchBOT’s creators, arguments about the robot’s killer are, at this point, moot – they say they’re not interested in a criminal prosecution, and without a complaint, Philadelphia police say they won’t investigate.

“We wish to remember the good times, and we encourage hitchBOT’s friends and family to do the same,” the project team said in a statement on the hitchBOT website. “Sometimes bad things happen to good robots.”

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The good Samaritans

Dr. Zeller, hitchBOT’s co-creator, said many people have reached out with offers to rebuild hitchBOT, and her team will make a decision on what to do in the coming days. “We don’t really know what to do, so we have to sit down with the whole team and really see where we are and what can be done,” Dr. Zeller told Associated Press.

Georgia Guthrie of The Hacktory, a Philadelphia technology and education company, said in a blog post Sunday that the firm will repair or replace hitchBOT’s parts if the creators want them to. As of Tuesday morning, a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to repair hitchBOT had raised more than $4,000.

For now, the researchers are focusing on what they can learn from this experience. “We’ve always asked, in the context of this project: ‘Can robots trust humans?’” Dr. Smith told AP. “And, you know, we would say at this point, mostly.”

With reports from Associated Press, The New York Times and Reuters