Erin Woods Elementary Hitchbots spend summer travelling across Canada

Students at Erin Woods Elementary School may be back in class this week but not the 22 Hitchbots they sent out in June to seek adventure.

"I'm proud to say they've made it all the way across this fantastic country of ours," teacher Jim Quigley told the Calgary Eyeopener."Some still here in Alberta, many are out on Vancouver Island and some, right now we actually don't know where they are, we're still waiting on updates."

The updates have been coming through Twitter, Instagram and other social media platforms from the people who pick upthe Hitchbotsand take them to their next destination.

• Calgary elementary school students send 22 'Hitchbots' on summer road trips

"They have written instructions on them that tell how to contact us when they're traveling around with our Hitchbots," said Quigley.

Standing nearly a metre high, the Hitchbots are "made from ice cream buckets, they're made from Tim Hortons fondant buckets, they have pool noodle arms," said Quigley.

"Some are wearing sandals and boots, some are wearing winter boots because they wanted to represent Canadian identity. They're pretty visible, if you see one on the side of the road, you'll know it."

One was left outside the CBC studios along Memorial Drive when the project launched in June, and itwas picked up soon after it was dropped off.

"I believe it went off to Banff the very next day and made its way through the mountains toward British Columbia," said Quigley.

"About a week after that we stopped hearing from that particular Hitchbot, I believe, but we're still waiting for updates. Sometimes they've dropped off the radar for about a month, then a month later we'll start getting updates again, so we're hopeful."

Along with learning the basics of robotics, the project has taught the students an even more valuable lesson, said Quigley.

"I think our biggest question when we started out was 'What is Canadian identity?'" he said.

"And I think we've had a lot of feedback that Canadians are kind, they're adventurous, they look out for one another, I think we're very community-based here in Canada so the kids learned a lot that way for sure."

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With files from the Calgary Eyeopener