For most travellers, going through the airport or train station can be busy and annoying at the best of times, it’s even worse when you have to lug a suitcase around after you. We improved on the problem by inventing suitcases with wheels and longer handles. It certainly made them easier to cart around, but it still required one hand to be used and some attention (those things could veer off wildly if they went off balance).
Fear not, though, for Rodrigo Garcia Gonazalez, an inventor from Madrid, has come up with the ingenious Hop! travel suitcase. Completed motorised, the traveller would sync his suitcase to his phone via Bluetooth. The case would then follow that Bluetooth signal around at an appropriate distance.
If the suitcase is ever too far from the phone it will immediately lock itself and the corresponding phone will vibrate to let the traveller know that he’s leaving the suitcase behind. If it takes off, this could mean big things for airports. It could be that the Hop! replaces conveyor belts and luggage carts.
Several cases can be synced to the same phone, and programmed to follow in a line. This could mean that even families with large amounts of luggage could calmly walk through departures lounges without having to stress about their suitcases dragging them down.
The case is still in its prototype stage and is being improved upon as we speak, but it’s been nominated for the James Dyson Award (a student design prize) – the winner will be announced later this month.
It could be that within a few years, we’ll have bags following people all over the place.