Hitchhiking robot's cross-country trip in US ends in Philly

It's a disturbing picture making the rounds on social media -- and upsetting the founders of the dismantled HitchBOT.

Its a child-sized sensations that programmers in Toronto intended to hitch rides for a cross country tour. But instead of making history, it's detached body was found on one of the most historic streets in Philly -- Old City's Elfreth's Alley.

"I was devastated, like who would go and do such a thing? The whole idea of this robot is... a defenseless creature," Mike Harrington said to FOX 29's Dave Kinchen via phone interview.

Harrington says he and a friend drove HitchBOT from New York to Philadelphia and even showed it off at the Philadelphia Art Museum, where he says a blogger took it over from there.

But how it got to Elfreth's Alley and broken into pieces is a mystery.

"First thing I thought was, my God they ripped the arms off -- the savages," Harrington said.

One of HitchBOT's final tweets said "Oh dear... my body was damaged, but I live on with all my friends. Sometimes bad things happened to good robots! #HitchBOTinUSA"

Its not yet clear what will happen to HitchBOT. Its unclear, but the creators at Toronto's Ryerson University said online that their experiment is not over.

They promise more answers in a few days.