It would seem that technology enables us to get lazier and lazier with each passing day. Just in case you’re not in the mood for carrying your own baggage, the Budgee rolling robot can get that off your chest.
Developed by 5 Elements Robotics and unveiled these days at CES, Budgee is a robot that’s programmed to do one task, and one task only: let you walk freely even when you have shopped for hours. The developers of this rolling robot did not get discouraged by the failure that was their Kickstarter campaign from back in February, and looked for funding somewhere else, promising that it would start delivering Budgee in December of last year or at latest, this January.
I think that Budgee is more appropriate for shopping than for carrying luggage at the airport. Right after parking your car, you can unload Budgee and strap the device that controls the distance between you and it to your belt. After doing so, the robot will maintain that distance, meaning that at no point will he invade your personal space. However, as demonstrated by The Verge‘s Ben Popper at CES, Budgee is sometimes shy and does not follow you as it should.
People who have learned about this robot’s existence fear that someone else could grab their luggage while it’s being carried by Budgee. I assume that 5 Elements Robotics have taken some security measures to ensure that the bags are strapped properly to the robot and that no one else can get them. It wouldn’t harm if the developers also taught Budgee a few martial arts moves.
5 Elements Robotics claims that its robot can be used both indoors and outdoors, but I don’t think it’s really good as a travel companion. What do you do with it at the airport or at the train station, after you no longer need it? I admit that it would be interesting if airports would pack some of these to help travelers carry their heavy cases over short distances
One thing that Budgee is missing (besides accuracy) is the ability to climb stairs. I believe that a stair-climbing tracked robot with some storage capacity would be more appropriate for carrying your luggage.
If you’re too lazy to carry your own bags, you can get Budgee for $1,400, which really isn’t that much in terms of modern robots. But just before you do that, take a look at the above video and see if it’s really worth it.
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