Bumming rides, hitchhiking robot completes Canadian journey

A hitchhiking robot has completed a 3,700-mile journey across Canada Sunday, capping off a research project that explores the relationship between robots and humans. A team of researchers from a group of Canadian universities created hitchBOT, a talking robot made out of a bucket, garden gloves and rain boots that set out on its coast-to-coast Canadian trip in Nova Scotia on July 26. It finished the journey in Victoria, British Columbia. "Usually, we are concerned with whether we can trust robots," said Dr. Frauke Zeller, Assistant Professor in the School of Professional Communication at Ryerson University. "This project asks: can robots trust human beings?"