@EarthRoverBot status page

@EarthRoverBot is a simulation of a rover that travels the globe via Google Street View imagery. Basically, it stitches together a route by hopping from point to point, wherever there is valid street view data.

In April 2017 the bot completed its first trip from the Canada/US border in Maine, to the US/Mexico border in California, near San Diego. You can see a map of that trip if you like.

The bot is currently in eastern Russia, and is maybe driving to Portugal? I reserve the right to change my mind about that one.

Although the bot can move on its own, it also accepts commands via Twitter, and humans often help it to find paths through difficult situations. Without human input, the bot will make a move every 20 minutes.

The bot has some very simple navigation routines, and it will attempt to drive itself to its destination, but it will only travel to places that have Google Street Map data. Every 20 minutes it will pick a move to make, hopefully towards the destination.

But it's not very smart, so it could definitely use some help from humans! You can issue commands to the bot via Twitter to help it on its way. Here's a list of commands @EarthRoverBot accepts:

• help - Asking for help will send you to this page.
• status - Send this command to get the bot's position, bearing, and a picture of what it can see.
• map - Are you lost? Send this command to get a Google Map URL of the bot's current location.
• auto - make a move using the bot's autopilot
• move x - Move the bot x meters. You can pass a negative value to go backwards
• turn x - turn right x degrees. You can pass a negative value if you want.
• left x - turn left x degrees
• right x - turn right x degrees

Also, to get around Twitter's duplicate tweet limitations, you can add extra words/characters to a command. For example, "@EarthRoverBot move 10" and "@EarthRoverBot move 10 please" will both work.

This map tracks where the rover is. It will update every 15 minutes or so.