Hitchbot | The Robot That Died Trying to Make Friends

Things I Learned Last Night

Space Tim Media

Comedy, Education, History

4.6 • 673 Ratings

🗓️ 8 July 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 2013, two Canadian professors set out to answer a strange question: Can robots trust humans? The result was a robot named Hitchbot. It wasn’t high-tech or futuristic-looking. In reality, it looked more like a child’s craft project. But its mission was serious: to travel across countries using only the kindness of strangers. Hitchbot was a mix of pool noodles, a bucket, rain boots, and a talking head powered by AI. It couldn’t walk or move on its own. Instead, it stuck out its thumb and waited to be picked up by passing drivers. The robot had one goal: to hitchhike across a country from one side to the other. The idea wasn’t just about travel. It was a social experiment to see how people treated a helpless, friendly robot. Hitchbot utilized AI to request rides, engage in small talk, and share updates on social media. Things I Learned Last Night is an educational comedy podcast where best friends Jaron Myers and Tim Stone talk about random topics and have fun all along the way. If you like learning, and laughing a whole lot while you do, then you’ll love TILLN. Watch or listen to this episode today! Become a Patron and Get Early Access to Ad-Free Episodes: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tilln.com/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Episode link: ⁠https://tilln.com Support TILLN & Join The Mailing List: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/tillnpodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Text TILLN to 66866 to become a patron and gain access to ad-free episodes, the exclusive discord, and earn discounts on TILLN Merch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by Raban.
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0:16.3	The essence of a hero, the scent of victory.
0:21.0	Discover Invictus and the new Invictus Victory Absolute by Raban.
0:25.5	Visit us in store and shop online to discover more.
0:29.7	Hey, thanks for checking out this week's episode of Things I Learn last night.
0:33.2	We're doing something a little different for the next couple episodes.
0:36.2	If you don't know, I just had a baby.
0:38.2	I'm a dad now. It's been an adjustment. I'll tell you that much. People say it's hard. I don't
0:44.5	think they say enough how hard it is. Anyways, no, we're having fun. It's great. This is a great thing.
0:49.5	We're having a blast. But I'm tired. I'm so tired. I woke up at 3 a.m. this morning. What time did you wake up?
0:55.2	How much sleep are you getting right now?
0:56.9	I bet I'm getting less.
0:58.3	Anyways, so in this time, we're just kind of getting back on our feet, getting back into the studio.
1:05.1	And so for the next couple episodes, we're going to release some of our favorites.
1:07.9	Jared and I, we picked out a couple of our favorite episodes.
1:10.0	We're going to re-release these.
1:11.2	So if you've been around for a while,
1:12.6	this is a great opportunity for you to revisit some old episodes
1:15.1	that maybe you haven't listened to in a long time.
	...

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