Research
hitchBOT and Social Robotics
Research on hitchBOT, public trust, social robotics, artificial agency, and human-machine relations.
2026
hitchBOT explored social robotics through public participation, mobility, trust, artificial agency, and human-machine relations.
The project tested what happens when a robotic object is placed into public space and made dependent on strangers. Its journeys depended not on autonomy in the technical sense, but on social interaction, curiosity, hospitality, and projection.
As a cultural robotics project, hitchBOT raised questions about how people attribute personality, intention, vulnerability, and agency to technological systems.
Research Themes
- Social robotics
- Human-robot interaction
- Trust and cooperation
- Public participation
- Artificial agency
- Cultural robotics
- Mobility and networks
- Media and technology studies
Related Publication
Smith, D. H., & Zeller, F. (2017).
The Death and Lives of hitchBOT: The Design and Implementation of a Hitchhiking Robot.
Leonardo, 50(1), 77–78.