The internet was aflutter today with the news that two Canadian students’ beloved robot project, hitchBOT, met an unseemly, violent end while innocently strolling down a Philadelphia street early Saturday morning.

Its killer turned out to be — big surprise here! — a Philadelphia Eagles fan, i.e. a young male wearing a Randal Cunningham football jersey.

He was captured smashing hitchBOT to silicon in the following surveillance video:

Okay, we know it’s not a living, breathing thing — but come on. Is this really necessary? Even if you didn’t know the backstory behind the cute little machine — which has made headlines in the past year for hitchhiking across the likes of Canada, Germany and even New York City (all without being harmed, mind you) — and saw it moving along past you, it’d be safe to assume that it was the careful work of someone and a harmless creation shouldn’t just be reduced to nothing because you had a bad day at work or your girlfriend dumped you or you had one too many pops at the pub.

But, unfortunately, the reality is that there are plenty of people out there angry and downtrodden with bad intentions who want to cause physical or emotional harm on other people. And not all of of them are in Philadelphia. Thusly, hitchBOT, when it’s being patched up and fixed, should be armed with some sort of weapon that engages with a would-be aggressor when warning signs are sensed. Perhaps a taser of some sort? Pepper spray?

Of course, we’re not suggesting that a robot should be armed with an actual gun that fires bullets — because that’s just downright frightening. But come on. This aggression will not stand, man. Not against an adorable pile of nuts and bolts like this:

hitchbot sitting on a chair

Thankfully, there is hope on the horizon.

Ideally, the next time, it’s with a little muscle.

Gizmodo, Deadspin