Robot Hitchbot ready to hitchhike

This summer, chatty robot from Ontario will try hitchhiked from Nova Scotia (province in Canada) to British Columbia.






Size Hitchbot be approximately six year old child and has a built-in rear child seat, says David Harris Smith, associate professor of the Canadian State University McMaster, who first introduced the idea of ​​creating a joint art project hitchhiker robot.

The little robot first attempt to pass the hare of the College of Art and Design in Nova Scotia on July 27, using only a single part of your body that can move - hand. Researchers hope that it is quite fascinating, to come all the way to Victoria.

On the way he will talk about his adventures with the help of social media - something you should know those who will pick it, Smith said CBC News: «It will be like an uncontrollable teenager in your car, it will have to photograph and post photos to Facebook ".

Hitchbot also equipped with GPS and wireless 3G-connection that will allow him to immediately post updates its location on the Internet.

Drivers who do not want to become part of the public history Hitchbot'a should not take it with you, Frock said Zeller, Assistant Professor, School of Professional Communication at the University of Ryerson and another leading researcher on the project.

You can take home Hitchbot h4>
 On the other hand, Smith said, "If people want to take him home to meet his family, or to a party, or somewhere else, then they can do it - if Hitchbot agree. It's part of the adventure on its way ».

Although its creators - is researchers, Hitchbot is not part of a research project, which usually occurs in a controlled environment. Rather, it is a joint conceptual art project: "We are releasing it in the real environment," - said Zeller.

The aim of the project is to get people to think and discuss their surrounding technology and our perception of public safety.

"You know, it was a lot of discussion around the robots: whether they will take over the job, if we can trust them? - Smith says. - And this is an artificial product of a very cleverly turns this whole discussion - whether robots to trust people? »

On the one hand, since Hitchbot can not move, it will not have much choice in how to trust people or not, recognized Zeller. But his virtual self-government can share their experiences. "Basically, the whole world is already watching the scene through social media," - she said.

On the other hand, complex communication functions Hitchbot'a are intended to help him gain the trust of the people, Zeller added. The ability to recognize and handle voice will allow him to make small talk. He can even rely on facts from Wikipedia on the topics of conversation. He will have LED screen so that he can write text messages to people and use some facial expressions. And he will be able to correspond with several people at the same time over the Internet.

Hitchbot will be equipped with solar panels, which are mounted on the lid of the portable fridge from which made his body, and it can be recharged by avtoprikurivatelya or the usual outlets. But if the battery runs out Hitchbot'a while he waits for his next mission, instruction with reference to the official website of his body will tell people how to fix it in the machine and connect to the power supply.

The remaining part of its design will be pretty low-tech, and the only move he could make would be his outstretched hand for hitchhiking.

Photos posted on the page Hitchbot Instagram on Monday showed that the robot head is made of a cover for a cake, "which will protect all of my part of the brain, including LEDs, plastic bearings, motors and mirror," said the robot.

He wrote in "Twitter" that his body is still "under construction."

Source: habrahabr.ru/company/nordavind/blog/226789/