This robot is trying to hitch-hike across North America by itself

A child-sized robot is currently hitch-hiking its way across Canada - relying on the kindness of strangers and its own powers of charm. Well, its built-in speech recognition and processing capabilities anyway.

hitchBOT, as the intrepid droid is known, started its journey in Halifax, Nova Scotia, this week and its designers, are hoping it will finish its journey in Victoria, British Columbia - a distance of 3,781 miles (6,084km).

But that journey, of course, will depend on those who pick it up and which route they choose to take - its first lift has taken it 349 miles (563km) north west to Campbellton.

"Usually, we are concerned whether we can trust robots… but this project takes it the other way around and asks: can robots trust human beings?" explained designer Frauke Zeller, from Ryerson University.

You can follow hitchBOT's progress on Twitter and on Facebook.