Do we need a grocery-carrying robot?
Print Edition
The first cargo-carrying robot marketed directly to consumers is on sale this holiday season. But how many people are ready to ditch their second car to buy a two-wheeled rover that can follow them around like a dog?
Corporate giants like Amazon, FedEx and Ford have already been experimenting with sending delivery robots to doorsteps. Now Piaggio, the Italian company that makes the Vespa scooter, is offering a stylish alternative to those blandly utilitarian machines 鈥 albeit one that weighs 23 kilograms 鈥 and costs US$3,250.
It鈥檚 named the Gita (JEE鈥-tah) after the Italian word for a short and pleasurable excursion. Its creators have such trips in mind for the 鈥渉ands-free carrier鈥 that can hold produce and other objects as it follows its owner down a sidewalk.
鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to get you out into the world and connected to that neighborhood you decided to move to because it was so walkable,鈥 said Greg Lynn, CEO of Piaggio鈥檚 tech-focused subsidiary Piaggio Fast Forward.
Tech industry analysts are already declaring the Gita as doomed to fail unless it finds a more practical application, such as lugging tools around warehouses, hospitals or factory floors.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a lot of money for what is in effect just a cargo-carrying robot that鈥檚 going to carry your groceries,鈥 said Forrester technology analyst JP Gownder.
The Gita might still be impractical for many people. It favors paved environments that are dense enough to have stores in walking distance but not so dense that the machines get lost in the crowd.
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