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 The child-sized robot, named hitchBOT, had safely hitchhiked
across Canada and through parts of Europe.
But its trip from Boston to San Francisco ended abruptly on Saturday
in a Philadelphia alley, where it was found with its head removed.
"We can't do anything without a complaint being filed," Philadelphia
Police spokeswoman Leeloni Palmiero. "If they did, we would
absolutely investigate."
The robot's owners said they have no interest in mounting a criminal
prosecution.
"We wish to remember the good times, and we encourage hitchBOT's
friends and family to do the same,” the team behind the project said
in a statement posted on the hitchBOT website.
(http://m.hitchbot.me/)
 "Sometimes bad things happen to good robots."
HitchBOT was the brainchild of professors David Harris Smith of
McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and Frauke Zeller at
Ryerson University in Toronto.
Smith said on Monday that the team has not decided whether to
rebuild the robot. He said the material cost of the original
hitchBOT was only about C$2,500 ($1,900 U.S.), but that "hundreds of
hours of work" would be necessary for a new model.
"There is a lot of testing to make sure everything will work," he
said.
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HitchBOT left Salem, Massachusetts, on July 17 and made stops in
Boston and New York City before traveling to Philadelphia. The team
that built him intended for hitchBOT to hitch-hike to San Francisco,
with stops at places like Mount Rushmore and the Grand Canyon.
It was 3 feet (91 cm) tall and weighed 25 pounds (11 kg), according
to Ryerson University. The robot could not move and was dependent on
motorists stopping and lifting it into their vehicles.
In the summer of 2014, hitchBOT crossed Canada, from Halifax, Nova
Scotia to Victoria, British Columbia in 19 separate rides lasting 26
days. It has also hitchhiked through Germany and the Netherlands.
(Editing by Scott Malone and Eric Walsh)
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