The Suitcase That FOLLOWS You
I’ve been attending CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Vegas for the last few years. It’s amazing just how big the show is. There are likely to be almost 200,000 people in attendance this year, all wanting to see what the latest technology looks like. I spent most of the day yesterday in the startup pavilion since that’s something my day job requires a fair bit of involvement in. I saw plenty of crazy concepts and plenty of things I hope become reality.
I’m honestly not sure which category this fits in.
Well, I’m pretty sure, but more on that later. I saw the first (or what I believe to be the first) suitcase that follows you through the airport. Meet NUA:
I did a poor job shooting the video. CES is maddeningly packed with people, making the task of recording a video in an aisle something of a chore. You’ll have to take my word that the guy who’s feet you can see in the video isn’t actually doing anything with his smart phone to make the suitcase follow him.
They expect the suitcase will get about 90 minutes of “drive time” and take between 20 and 60 minutes to charge. The prototype was lighter than I would have thought, probably only a couple pounds more than my Briggs & Riley (which is heavier than the average suitcase to begin with). They showed me video of a prior prototype and I actually like that form factor better than the newer model. I almost thought that the one I saw at CES was the older model.
They wouldn’t actually let me look inside the suitcase which tells me this prototype is likely far from production. Ultimately, that’s probably a good thing. Airports are over-crowded quite often nowadays and I don’t think that condition will change. Maybe I’m short-sighted, but I can’t envision a world where my suitcase rolls behind me without my help and doesn’t cause interference (or get interfered with) amongst my fellow passengers. At a minimum, I suspect it will be quite some time before you don’t get an ugly look when your suitcase cuts off your fellow traveler.
But, hey. It’s at CES so it must be real.
What do you think of the following suitcase?
