Hitchbot, the Wikipedia-quoting, social media-savvy robot, has hit the road.

Its Ryerson and McMaster University inventors dropped it off at the side of the highway in Halifax, N.S. Sunday morning. And judging from the robot's Instagram account, it's already thumbed its first ride.

"It was really a successful launch," McMaster University multimedia researcher David Harris Smith told CTV News Channel.

Smith and his research partner, Frauke Zeller of Ryerson University, said it wasn't long before Hitchbot found its first Good Samaritan.

"Hitchbot was on the road for all of two minutes before it was picked up by a camper headed to New Brunswick," Smith said Sunday.

Smith and Zeller designed the robot as a social experiment to test how far it could travel on the charity of casual passers-by.

"Hitchbot is solely dependent on the help and goodwill of people," Zeller said. "It can't move by itself, except the hitchhiking arm and finger."

Hitchbot looks like something a 10-year-old built in the backyard: its "body" is a bucket, its limbs are pool noodles, its feet are rubber boots, and its hands are rubber kitchen gloves. Only its head betrays its high-tech origin: it's a block of red LED lights that flash a winning smile at the friendly Canadians who stop to take it for a ride.

Hitchbot's modest shell masks a number of constantly-updating computer systems, including a GPS device that provides constant location updates on Hitchbot's website. The robot talks to whoever picks it up, and uses information from Wikipedia to plan its route across the country. It also posts its own updates to social media.

Smith said his greatest fear with the robot is not that it will malfunction, but that people will find it disappointing or annoying. "Our biggest concern is a lack of engagement," he said.

But Zeller said despite some initial misgivings, she's not worried about the robot now. "I've become more and more confident all the time, when I saw how people embraced this idea," she said.

Zeller and Smith said they are more interested in Hitchbot's journey than its destination, and encourage people to take it on detours as they help it across Canada.

"Really, this whole adventure unfolds on social media as Hitchbot travels across the country," Smith said.