{"id":282362,"date":"2025-10-06T19:31:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T19:31:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/282362\/"},"modified":"2025-10-06T19:31:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T19:31:22","slug":"hitchbot-celebrated-by-hundreds-in-elfreths-alley-10-years-after-its-demise-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/282362\/","title":{"rendered":"HitchBOT celebrated by hundreds in Elfreth’s Alley, 10 years after its demise there"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elsfreth\u2019s Alley in Philly\u2019s Old City has two big claims to fame: One really old and one much more recent.<\/p>\n

First, the really old one. It\u2019s one of the oldest continuously inhabited residential streets in the nation, dating back to 1703. That\u2019s why over 300,000 tourists from around the world, according to the alley\u2019s museum<\/a>, come to see it each year.<\/p>\n

The more recent factoid happened this century, and isn\u2019t so positive. On Aug. 1, 2015, hitchBOT<\/a>, a Canadian hitchhiking robot, was found decapitated at the top of the alley<\/a>, cutting short its planned journey from Boston to San Francisco after just two weeks.<\/p>\n

No charges were filed, no culprits were found. For 10 years not much mention of hitchBOT really happened, except to lump it in with other tales of Philadelphians behaving badly<\/a>, or as a cautionary tale ahead of Waymo\u2019s arrival in Philly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So there was some surprise \u2014 and excitement \u2014 when the Elfreth\u2019s Alley Museum announced that its October First Friday event would be all about hitchBOT<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Maiti Gallen, an Elsfreth\u2019s Alley board member, guides people through the activities during the Elsfreth\u2019s Alley Museum\u2019s \u201cRemembering HitchBOT\u201d event. (Nick Kariuki\/Billy Penn)<\/p>\n

About 550 people showed up to commemorate hitchBOT, a record First Friday turnout for the museum.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019ve ever had a line before opening at a First Friday before,\u201d said Susan Poulton, the event\u2019s organizer and vice president of the board of directors of the Elfreth\u2019s Alley Association, and a resident on the alley. \u201cJust in the first 45 minutes, we had 100 people come in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Old City residents Jefferson Ta and Jacob Joseph were Drexel undergrads back in 2015. When they heard about the event, they were astounded and amused that the commemoration was happening, and had to come check it out.<\/p>\n

\"\"Old City residents Jefferson Ta (left) and Jacob Joseph got creative with their robot ornaments at the \u201cRemembering hitchBOT\u201d event. (Nick Kariuki\/Billy Penn)<\/p>\n

Joseph said the hitchBOT incident felt pretty \u201con-brand\u201d for the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anyone was going to beat up a hitchhiking robot anywhere in this world, it would be Philadelphia,\u201d he said. \u201cWe wear it with a badge of honor a little bit. But, right now, we\u2019re just commemorating it. We\u2019re sad that it happened, but we\u2019re happy that we\u2019re commemorating the moment in Philadelphia history.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Attendees at the Elfreth\u2019s Alley Museum\u2019s \u201cRemembering hitchBOT\u201d event got to make their own robots with various activities. (Nick Kariuki\/Billy Penn)<\/p>\n

The event included activity stations, where guests could build their own mini hitchBOT with a cardboard box and crafting supplies, or color a robot ornament with markers. Robot kits to build a solar-powered cart were available as well, along with temporary tattoos and stickers of hitchBOT and various other cartoon automatons.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are loving it,\u201d said Maiti Gallen, an Elsfreth\u2019s Alley board member who was guiding the crafting stations. \u201cIt\u2019s a different crowd, which is what the First Friday is meant to do, bring other people in. Elsfreth\u2019s Alley isn\u2019t just about history. It\u2019s about the people. It\u2019s about the events in the city, and we just want people to experience it any way they want to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Chrissie O\u2019Brien decorates a robot ornament to look like hitchBOT at the Elsfreth\u2019s Alley Museum\u2019s First Friday event commemorating the hitchhiking robot. (Nick Kariuki\/Billy Penn)<\/p>\n

Among the free snacks and drinks on offer was beer provided by Human Robot Brewery<\/a>. Guests also had free access to the museum and its gift shop \u2014 two adjacent houses on the street \u2014 which Poulton said also saw increased foot traffic and sales.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The idea for the commemoration began with an April Fool\u2019s post<\/a> by Jeff Winner, a music and film producer<\/a> who runs the popular social media accounts Old Cilly<\/a> and lives in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone thought it was real,\u201d Poulton said, \u201cand so, I thought, why not make that a great First Friday topic?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In preparing for the event, Winner and Poulton got in touch with the creators of hitchBOT, Canadian professors David Harris Smith and Frauke Zeller, to get more insights and updates to the story.<\/p>\n

While there was no new info on how the robot met its grizzly end, there was plenty of details that 2015\u2019s coverage glossed over. Like \u2026<\/p>\n