That hitchBOT came to an untimely end in August 2015 when it was found, broken and beheaded, on the streets of Philadelphia. She eventually visited its creators, Canadian communications researchers Frauke Zeller and David Harris Smith, and conducted her own investigation into its demise. They sent her a new model earlier this year with a few tweaks — hitchBOT 2.0 can turn its head, and has a blinking heart and wings. “But everyone in the room, when we take hitchBOT on stage, everyone goes, ‘Awwww.’”There are cultural differences in how the public interacts with hitchBOT, Zeller admits — Germans, for instance, tend to offer a lot more critical feedback. Smith, an associate professor of media arts at McMaster University, called hitchBOT an “icon” in the world of social robots.

Source: thestar December 28, 2019 12:03 UTC