HitchBot, a friendly Canadian robot sent on a mission to autonomously hitchhike across America, had a pleasant, successful journey across our fair nation, meeting friendly locals who were happy to help the little bot get where it was going. Until it got to Philadelphia.

Philadelphia, a town populated by rude murderers, is where HitchBot met its demise. Philadelphia is where HitchBot got its ass beat like it had just cut in line at Pat’s and ordered a steak wit’out onions. Philadelphia is where HitchBot found out that LOVE is nothing but a variation of a sculpture found in multiple cities. R.I.P. HitchBot.

The robot, roughly as big as a human child and designed to carry on limited conversations, had planned to travel from Massachusetts to San Francisco, but its journey lasted only two weeks before it was torn limb-from-limb in the so-called City of Brotherly Love. Huh—apparently faceless, hitchhiking robots are no longer considered our “brothers.”

A hard lesson to learn—for some.

HitchBot’s co-creator says the team won’t release the last photo of the dismembered robot, out of concern for heartbroken children who were following its travels. NBC10 had no such compunctions:

HitchBot was last seen intact on a bench in Old City early Saturday morning. No one has filed a police report.

[Photo: NBC10]