It charges your smart phone. Its built-in GPS guarantees it will never get lost. And the MIT student who created it has raised almost $1.4 million to ensure that soon enough, you’ll be able to own it.
What is ‘it,’ you may ask? It’s Bluesmart, the world’s first smart, connected luggage.
Aside from charging your phone with its built-in battery, Bluesmart also has a built-in scale, a digital lock, and a GPS that sends notifications to your phone if you stray too far away from it — or if a thief takes it too far away from you. The luggage also comes with an app that syncs your travel calendar so you’ll know when to pack, along with other nifty features like analyzing your travel patterns and measuring distance traveled.
Bluesmart was dreamed up by a team of creators, including Brian Chen, a first-year MBA student at the MIT Sloan School of Management. After building a series of prototypes, Chen and his team have raised $1.366 million through crowdfunding site Indiegogo, based mainly on pre-sales of the carry-on, priced anywhere from $195 to $265 depending on how early you ordered.
According to a Bostinno story, Chen is already thinking about branching out from the carry-on to provide a full suite of Bluesmart luggage.
“After we ship this first product,” he said, “then we will consider adding to our product portfolio, all with the idea of designing the travel experience (rather than just a piece of luggage) in a way that has never been done before.”
Future products could include a checked bag version of the carry-on, or even a passport holder “that connects to your suitcase so that you don’t have to worry about forgetting your passport when you travel internationally.”
Anything that makes air travel less painless is welcome, and Bluesmart certainly seems like it would accomplish that.
[h/t Bostinno]
