4 minute read
TRANSPORTATION
ROLLING ALONG
Meet gita, the footstep-following robot that will carry all your stuff.
By Rachel Gallaher
ABOVE: Tarik Abdullah, chef and owner of Seattle-based community kitchen Feed The People, with a gita robot, the first consumer robot programmed to follow you while carrying your things. OPPOSITE: The gita robot can continuously roll for up to four hours.
Ever wish you had a personal assistant, or just a second set of hands? Gita—a programmable robot on wheels—is the out-of-the-box solution for city-dwellers, those without cars, and people trying to get out and walk more. Created by Piaggio Fast Forward, the company behind the Vespa scooter, gita is the first consumer robot programmed to follow your footsteps. With the capacity to carry up to 40 pounds in its interior compartment, the rolling robot is great for trips to the park or errands around the neighborhood.
“As ride-hailing and scooter-sharing were replacing walking trips, we looked toward autonomous intelligent machines to provide an alternative that would promote pedestrian lifestyles that involved more walking outdoors,” says Greg Lynn, CEO at Piaggio Fast Forward. “We focused on pedestrian environments and developing technology that understands and predicts human movement in the built environments. We began by observing people: how they move, how they interact, what they carry. The gita robot is designed with human performance as well as with pedestrian etiquette. It is the first-of-its-kind cargo-carrying robot built to move the way people move.”
Gita has the capacity to continuously roll for up to four hours, at a maximum speed of 6 miles per hour, and to stream your music. Information-gathering sensors and color-sensing technology allow it to “see” and react to its surroundings and differentiate between people and objects.
“We are always looking to eliminate the unnecessary and focus on delivering an intuitive human mobility experience,” Lynn says, “[one that] allows people to be more social, connected, and active outdoors in their local neighborhoods with friends, family, and familiar strangers.” h
—GREG LYNN, PIAGGIO FAST FORWARD
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