A talking robot assembled from various odds and ends was set loose along a Canadian highway Monday, and in the following five days managed to hitchhike over 700 miles.

The robot, affectionately termed hitchBOT, was created by university researchers David Harris Smith and Frauke Zeller as part of a performing arts social experiment.

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The purpose of the experiment is to turn around the common query of whether or not humans can trust machines, and instead ask: Can robots trust humans?

According to Zeller, who is an assistant professor at Ryerson's University in Toronto, Hollywood films such as "The Terminator" tend to give robots a bad name and pose machines as mankind's enemy.

However, with hitchBOT, researchers hope to turn the table.

For just US$1,000 researchers were able to assemble hitchBOT using a bucket for a torso, blue swimming-pool noodles for arms and legs, yellow gloves on its hands, and rubber boots on its feet. Inside hitchBOT is a simple tablet PC, and his face is a smiling LED panel.

HitchBOT is designed to be completely dependent on human beings as the robot is unable to move on its own.

The experiment has taken off with a bang as the machine's travels are followed on social media sites.

"People seem to be rather intrigued with hitchBOT, and take very good care (of it)," said Smith, a professor at McMaster University in Hamilton.

Reportedly, three men who picked up the robot bought it a stuffed animal and "fed" it a meal of screws and oil, while another driver covered the hitchhiking machine with a plastic cape to keep it safe from the rain. The researchers have also seen pictures of hitchBOT sitting on a toilet and lying on a camp bed.

HitchBOT isn't a silent hitchhiker though, as Smith and Zeller programmed the robot to answer simple questions and recite Wikipedia info. However, when hitchBOT doesn't understand what people are saying, it tends to just begin chattering away - a perhaps less-than ideal attribute to find in a hitchhiker.

Although hitchBOT has already traveled quite a distance, its journey is far from over. Researchers hope the traveling bot can make it all the way to British Columbia - a journey of nearly 4,000 miles.

Tagshitchbot, hitchiking robot, hitchhike robot, david smith, frauke zeller