One of the awful things about traveling is pulling around luggage. The bother of dragging your bags around after you while you try to figure out where you're going is enough to evoke vows that you will, from this day on, only bring the clothes on your back when you go traveling. Sure, the addition of wheels to luggage has made things infinitely easier, but you still have to pull your suitcase around like a wagon full of rocks. But what if that wagon could pull itself?
Modder Ben Heck has designed this R2-D2-esque autonomous piece of robot luggage, which is programmed to follow its target around crowded airports, lightening travelers’ loads and keeping their hands free. Heck used two sensors, one in the luggage and one on the target, in order to pair suitcase to traveler. The luggage, named 'Doug,' isn't very fast but it will speed up if you're further away in an attempt to catch up. He'll stop about a foot away from you if you stop. The robot will lose range after about 20 ft, so you do give the poor little guy some time to catch up, otherwise you could lose Doug forever!
Check out the latest episode of the Ben Heck show to see how to make your own Doug.
Follow @JaneMcEntegart on Twitter.
