A Canadian/German team wondered if an immobile robot could make it around the world relying on the kindness of strangers to carry him from point A to point B, so they created HitchBOT, an adorable toddler-sized robot. They equipped it with GPS, a G3 hookup, recording devices and a camera that snapped pictures every 20 minutes. Designed to be a friendly travel companion, HitchBOT could ask for rides and carry on basic conversation. It successfully tripped through Norway and Germany and made a 3,600-mile trek across Canada, so optimism was high when HitchBOT began its journey across the US. Lots of friends were made through New England, but trouble ended HitchBOT’s journey in Philadelphia. The HitchBOT team isn’t looking to discover what caused its demise, but is focused on what we can learn from the experiment. Read more at washingtonpost.com or Hitchbot.me.