A robot named hitchBOT has been created with the goal of hitchhiking from one end of Canada to the other.
hitchBOT's journey will begin on July 27th at the Institute for Applied Creativity at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) and end in Vancouver, British Columbia, according to io9.
The total distance of the journey stretches to 6,158 kilometers (3.826 miles).
"Usually, we are concerned whether we can trust robots ... but this project takes it the other way around and asks: can robots trust human beings?" said Frauke Zeller from Ryerson University. "We expect hitchBOT to be charming and trustworthy enough in its conversation to secure rides through Canada."
Zeller is a professor at the university and the co-founder of the hitchBOT. The robot's exact final destination is Open Space, a gallery and resource center in Victoria, British Columbia, CTV News reported.
David Harris Smith, the other founder of the robot and professor of code and design at McMaster University, said he's "cautiously optimistic" that the robot will successfully complete its journey.
"I think from the media and public response so far, there's a lot of good will in this project," Smith said. "But should hitchBOT go missing, we do have siblings in place to step in."
The robot will not be able to move on its own, with the exception of one of its arms that will be used to hitchhike. The machine has speech recognition and processing abilities. It will also have 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity, which will help it figure out its exact location and plan its trip, io9 reported.
hitchBOT can have its battery charged by asking drivers to plug it into their car's cigarette lighter.
The robot will have a camera and microphone for detecting motion and speech. The machine will also have a Wikipedia database and conversational dialogue models that it will use to talk to people and answer questions, CTV News reported.
hitchBOT can be followed on its journey on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and on its website, www.hitchbot.me, when it starts its adventure.
