Tony the Robot Suitcase – The Intelligent Luggage That Panders to Your Every Move

We have to be honest here and say that this is one of those elegantly simple yet brilliant ideas that gets you thinking as to a) why it’s taken so long to materialise and b) why on earth I didn’t think about it (damn) as this ‘intelligent’, robot luggage, known affectionately as ‘Tony’, will undoubtedly breed like wildfire in airports across the globe on its eventual release.

Featuring in the Russian Robotronic online catalogue, which claims that Tony the Bot Suitcase will become available sometime in 2009, the devise works by following a signal emanating from a smart card you can carry in your pocket with Tony’s onboard electronic brain processing a series of stimuli gained from an internal gyroscope, light detection units and infrared emitters to avoid any obstacles as it trundles obediently around after you.

Cleverly the device will also be able to detect stairs (though it will not climb them) and it will even sound an alarm if someone attempts to spirit it away.

Tony mistakenly takes the flashing of an ID tag as a signal to move in

(the future of luggage social faux par)

It’s a marvellously ingenious idea, we think you’ll agree, right up until the point where you find yourself in the middle of a luggage bot stampede when departure gates are called or you find a number of the blighters trying to force their way into queues at the check-in desk.

Who knows, in future they could even have their own personalities to the point where Tony will simply refuse to budge unless you apologise for making him wait in departures whilst knocking back a crafty pre-flight tipple or for ruining his chances with Sally the Pink Robot Suitcase (on the basis that he thought he was in there). The mind boggles.

According to Robotronic Tony the Robot Suitcase is expected to retail for around $2000 should he ever truly see it off the drawing board.

[Source | The Raw Feed]