[UPDATED] hitchBOT Has Met a Tragic End, Here’s the Mean Jerk Who Wrecked It All

In case you weren’t aware, Canadian researchers recently launched a social experiment to see how hospitable strangers can be to a hitchhiking robot. hitchBOT, a robot that had already made its way across Canada and Europe, was attempting to add the United States to its growing list of seen sights. Unfortunately, it met an incredibly sad, tragic end only two weeks into its U.S. jaunt as it was destroyed in Philadelphia.

Needless to say, America’s failed the social experiment, and it’s all thanks to one jerk. Presented here is a video of the malicious destruction and hitchBOT’s end.

@adamgabbatt@Jessewelle@hitchBOT@GuardianUS here it is from his snapchat pic.twitter.com/RdGxRAZsCC

— nick (@FaZeRainCan720) August 3, 2015

Whatever the dude’s problem is, it wasn’t cool that he took it out on a robot just trying to make its way across the country. This is why we can’t have nice things, folks. And this is why everyone thinks we’re violent jerks. It’s because when something is minding its own business, some person comes along and beats the hell out of it simply because they can.

Gross. Hope you’re happy, random Eagles fan.

UPDATE: According to Gizmodo, Jesse Wellens and Ed Bassmaster, two YouTube personalities, faked the security video of hitchBOT’s supposed end.

Apparently we were all thrown for a loop by a prank courtesy of two rando vloggers who wanted some attention, I guess, maybe, who knows. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(via Paleofuture and Mediaite)

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Jessica Lachenal

Jessica Lachenal is a writer who doesn’t talk about herself a lot, so she isn’t quite sure how biographical info panels should work. But here we go anyway. She's the Weekend Editor for The Mary Sue, a Contributing Writer for The Bold Italic (thebolditalic.com), and a Staff Writer for Spinning Platters (spinningplatters.com). She's also been featured in Model View Culture and Frontiers LA magazine, and on Autostraddle. She hopes this has been as awkward for you as it has been for her.

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