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This Fully Autonomous Suitcase Will Follow You Around the Airport

Oct. 24, 2016
2 min read
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This Fully Autonomous Suitcase Will Follow You Around the Airport
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There's a new player in the "luggage of the future" race — Travelmate. It's described as the first fully autonomous suitcase — once you pair it with your smartphone, it'll follow you around, avoiding all obstacles in the process.

The bag can travel both horizontally and vertically, includes a rechargeable battery (which lasts four hours when in full autonomous mode and up to 100 hours in standby mode), two USB ports, a standard electrical outlet, a built-in scale, speaker, a magnetic lock and GPS chip, among other features. The unique omni wheels on the luggage allow it to maneuver tight corners and in close spaces in order to keep up with you, and the color-changing LED lights help to light up your path as you walk.

The "first true robot companion and fully autonomous suitcase," produced by Travelmate Robotics, is currently in the Indiegogo stage of development. As of this writing, it has raised $6,357 by 23 backers — it has five days to reach its goal of $100,000. The bag is fully TSA compliant, and it comes in three different sizes — small, medium and large.

There are other products like this, like Cowarobot's autonomous suitcase, and there are the other pretty ridiculous options out there like Modobag's rideable luggage. With all of this new smart technology out there for our bags, what will they come up with next?

Will you be backing the Travelmate suitcase?

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