Have you ever been to the airport and find you’re traveling with way too much? You’re dragging your rolling luggage, have your carry-on draped over one shoulder and maybe even a laptop bag and/or a purse over your other shoulder. One solution would be to not pack as much but if you really need to, this may be your solution.

Piaggio Fast Forward is a robotics company that focuses on making autonomous devices to better serve humans. One such item is a autonomous suitcase called the “Gita.” A spherical orb that looks like it would be from 2001: A Space Odyssey, the Gita is able to follow you wherever you go so it can be one less thing to lug around at the airport.

It’s still in its early phase so pricing isn’t available nor it has been available to the public but products like the Gita could be great to have. While equipped with a wearable, the Gita can follow you around while developing a 3D map of the things around it. And then based on where it has been, the Gita can be programmed to freely move from Point A to Point B with its bicycle tires.

Other things the Gita can do is walk up and down walkways and various terrain, roll up to 22 mph and carry up to 40 pounds.

While this would look like just another expensive toy, the Gita seems to have practical uses. For one thing, apart from not having to pull this, the Gita is secured so if someone takes your bag, they won’t be able to get in. The Gita also has a tracker so if your bag gets lost, it’s a way to locate your luggage. Yes, some airlines are able to do that and you could get your own GPS tracker for your bag but at least it’s in there. It also looks pretty durable and can take a pounding but I wouldn’t know that.

In addition, as long as you are wearing your wearable, the Gita can come to you. I wouldn’t advise doing this at an airport because people are justifiably leery about unattended luggage (not to mention when it rolls away), but if you’re away from your luggage, it could come to you. I would imagine that it would need to be set so the tires are on the ground to roll but it could work.

It seems like the Gita is still in the testing phase but it seems like a rather cool product. It remains to be seen when it’ll be released to the public.

[Piaggio Fast Forward/Photo: Piaggio Fast Forward]

About Phillip Bupp

Producer/editor of the Awful Announcing Podcast and Short and to the Point. News editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. Highlight consultant for Major League Soccer as well as a freelance writer for hire. Opinions are my own but feel free to agree with them.

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