A robot has been murdered for hitchhiking. HitchBOT has met its end at the hands of humans, despite loving them to the bitter end.

HitchBOT was a robot created by Ontario makers at Ryerson University who wanted to see how far it would travel.

The robot met its end after being dismantled in Philadelphia. The culprits tweeted a photo to its creators, presumably to show their human dominance over puny machines.

So what was the project and how far did it go?

What is HitchBOT?

Essentially HiitchBOT was made up of some pretty basic parts. So, as its creators point out, taking it to bit for parts wasn't worth it.

Apart from a battery HitchBOT comprised a camera, motherboard, tablet, GPS and red eyes.

The robot was able to hold basic conversations as well as throwing out tidbits of wisdom while on its travels.

GPS was pinged to track the robot's location while the camera was used to snap shots every 20-minutes.

How far did HitchBOT get?

Before meeting its demise in Philidelphia HitchBOT had already travelled across Canada, The Netherlands and Germany.

The idea was to allow it to be passed from person to person using Twitter as a means of making the hand-off.

By the end it has more than 43,000 Twitter followers.

What did HitchBOT get up to?

Apart from covering a lot of miles HitchBOT managed plenty of experiences. It attended a comic convention, a wedding, had its portrait painted and even spent a week with a heavy metal band.

It was also photographed enjoying a baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston as well as being amidst the madness of Times Square.

Ultimately the last tweet from the travelling robot came in the form of a final shut down notification. It read: "My trip must come to an end for now, but my love for humans will never fade. Thanks friends."

Will HitchBOT rise again?

The HitchBOT creators say that this isn't the last we'll see of this ever-loving travel bot.

The creators of HitchBOT hope to unleash a second version soon. So keep your eyes peeled for a hitchhiking robot near you in the future.
