by Tucker Koch, Contributing Writer

The US and Canada have quite distinct cultures, all things considered. While they may have both originated as British colonies bent on forcibly relocating the native population for profit, the two nations have grown apart and now have distinct cultures. No other study demonstrates this more than the tale of HitchBOT back in 2013.

HitchBOT was originally developed by two Canadian professors, David Harris Smith and Frauke Zeller, to demonstrate human kindness. HitchBOT was essentially a tiny robot, only a couple of feet tall, who was designed to hitchhike across a given country to see various landmarks. It could not move on its own and relied entirely on random passersby to take it places, usually across the country. It traveled coast to coast across Canada, among other countries. 

Then in 2015… They tried this little experiment in the USA. HitchBOT’s mission, among other things, was to make it from Boston to San Francisco. He was then promptly damaged beyond all repair in Philadelphia (which makes sense, but still). More specifically, he was

  • Kicked a lot
  • Hit with a blunt object
  • Had both of his arms ripped off
  • Decapitated
  • And thrown into a pile of leaves and garbage, amongst other things

In fact, we still don’t know where its head is to this day. It’s just fascinating to see the cultural difference between two countries that should, on paper, be more alike than they actually are. Another rather short one, but it’s interesting how similar cultures can drift apart in just a couple of centuries. Either way, this has been Tucker Koch, and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this.