Hitchbot, the hitchhiking robot who safely made its way across Canada with the generosity of strangers, has been in the United States for a few days now. I don’t know exactly what it is about this story that makes me so giddy and gleeful, but I love Hitchbot and the social experiment behind it. For the first time in my life, I actually want to see someone’s vacation photos.

Here’s Hitchbot’s official page. Here are detailed travel logs of its Canadian trip and its vacation in the Netherlands, both of which have plenty of photos. The following photo is one of my favorites:

I’m disappointed Americans are reacting so pessimistically to Hitchbot’s travels in the United States. The general consensus is the police are going to mistake Hitchbot for a bomb and shoot it or some redneck’s going to scrap it or worse. I don’t know. I have a lot more faith in Americans, but then again I’m not conditioned to live my life in fear because A) I leave the house every once and a while and have a pretty good concept of this thing called reality, and B) I haven’t been brutally murdered yet. I’m willing to bet money Hitchbot isn’t going to end up in a ditch.

*Update: goddamn it, Philadelphia.*

Seriously, though, if Obama doesn’t take time out of his schedule to meet with Hitchbot, I’m going to be pretty damn disappointed. I really want this to become a national news story everyone here is talking about.

Have no fear! I didn’t swim or short circuit, I just hitched a boat ride out of Gloucester yesterday. #hitchBOTinUSA pic.twitter.com/9fc55oH83l

— hitchBOT (@hitchBOT) July 19, 2015

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