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Meet Gita, Piaggio's new personal robot cargo carrier
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Sixty-six centimeters in height, Gita can track its owner and carry a total capacity of 20 kilograms at a speed of 35 kilometers per hour, allowing its owner to stroll at ease. (Piaggio Fast Forward/File)
P
iaggio, the company that introduced the Vespa scooter in 1946, is scheduled to launch another promising innovation: Gita -- a robotic personal helper.
Pronounced “jee-ta” (Italian for “short trip”), the autonomous cargo carrier looks just like a blue orb that uses two bicycle wheels to navigate. The new creation is intended for shopping or for “lugging cumbersome items”, said Piaggio Fast Forward CEO Jeffrey Schnapp as quoted by Slash Gear. He also mentioned that Gita can be sent “on missions while you are busy doing something more pressing”.
A YouTube video demonstrating the use of the new smart vehicle shows that it can function autonomously in a mapped environment and perform tasks like fetching an order from a shop, carrying groceries, helping with stock at a warehouse and also dog-walking. Furthermore, cargo can be stowed in the compartment after opening the lid at the top of the porter.
Sixty-six centimeters in height, the spherical mobility aid can track its owner and carry a total capacity of 20 kilograms at a speed of 35 kilometers per hour, allowing its owner to stroll at ease.
(Read also: 'Avatar' style robot takes baby steps in South Korea)
Having the ability to move both indoors and outdoors, Gita is said to have a “communicative personality and the ability to learn” as reported by Dezeen.
Moreover, Piaggio Fast Forward suggested that the battery-powered robot is “designed and engineered with the same attention to safety, braking, balancing and vehicle dynamics that you would expect of a high-performance motorcycle”.
“The transportation and robotics industries tend to focus on optimizing tasks and displacing labor, we’re developing products that augment and extend human capabilities, instead of simply seeking to replace them,” Schnapp added.
As stated in The Star, Piaggio's aim is to provide a greener substitute to cars and scooters to accommodate short commutes, while at the same time persuade users to walk out more journeys.
Gita’s prototype will be launched in Boston by Piaggio Fast Forward on Feb. 2. (nik/kes)
