Skip to main content

Thoughts on HitchBOT

In the past few weeks in the news there has been the saga of HitchBOT. It started as a social experiment to see how many people would pick up the hitchhiking portable robot and take it across the country. HitchBOT was a passenger all across Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands.
The two professors and creators of HitchBOT decided to drop it off in Boston, MA and see how far it could go, its destination communicated through its screen was San Francisco, CA.
Unfortunately, HitchBOT was not allowed to record the image of the Golden Gate Bridge. After two weeks, it made it to Philadelphia PA where it was torn apart and left in pieces on the street.  
However, the story does not end there. A group of inventors named The Hacktory from Philadelphia saw this news story and did not want the conclusion to be that people only want to destroy things. They reached out to the Canadian inventors and offered to help repair HitchBOT. 
 Another item that has come about is PopeBot, built by a Philadelphia local station 93.3 WWMR. This robot is also dependent on people to take it on a journey and these images are posted to social media

This turn of events is a good lesson for your family. Though the negative events such as the demolition of HitchBOT is disheartening, sometimes taking positive action can help out change the course. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What’s your top ten?

Lately, I have been watching many top ten lists on You Tube.  It started with viewing watchmojo.com  with my teenage son.  We shout out what we think should be number one best video game or worst villain. He has been inspired since then to create his own countdowns. I have also stumbled across Matthew Santoro’s channel  and his show has also been added as a favorite.   Back in my day, top 10 lists were relegated to the David Letterman Show .  Now, I can watch as many top 10 lists as I please.  Yea, technology!! Taking a queue from my son, below is my countdown to my top 10 reasons why I watch Top 10 Lists: 10. The facts are listed in short tidbits that you don’t feel overwhelmed and able to retain the information.   For instance, I learned that we share a considerable amount of our DNA with bananas. Therefore, I have concluded it’s not a big insult to call someone a “banana”.  9. Goodness knows I have turned on YouTube during ...

Found: a change of perspective

There have been times I've been searching for a lost item—be it my car keys or my shoes—I can’t find it for the life of me. I tear the house apart, and doggedly quiz my family (Are you sure you didn't see them? Really, really?) After a fruitless search, I feel very frustrated, throw my hands up and quit looking. After a while, I retrace my steps--I do need to find these items, especially if I’m heading out the door! Inevitably, I find the item only when I search differently. For instance, when looking for my car keys, if I dug my hand through my purse, I now need to dump all of the contents out.  If I've been looking underneath the bed for my shoes from the left hand side, I switch to the right. It got me thinking how this new approach is relative to life experiences. Sometimes, we get so wrapped up in looking at a problem one way that with a fresh pair of eyes, it can be view as an opportunity. For example, a fender bender is a tragedy when it occurs. The look of the ...

All that camouflage!

One of my guilty pleasures is watching Project Runway . I find it fascinating that the designers can look at a piece of fabric and envision a sassy or an innovative dress. I get a real kick out of Tim Gunn and his signature catch phrase, “Make it work!” as he critiques the competing designers. I have often used this phrase in some of my parenting skills. A few years ago, my husband mentioned he wanted to try his hand at fly fishing, but didn't have waders. It was a few days before his birthday, so I figured Perfect! That’s what I would get him! At the time, he worked weekends; on the Saturday before his birthday, I took our son, who was seven at the time, to Sportsman’s Warehouse . This store is huge, packed tightly full of every sort of camping, hunting and fishing gear imaginable.  What I didn't know, but became painfully aware as soon as we entered, was in the middle of the store, they have on display a life-like wilderness scene. To complete this display was many taxi...