Since achieving flights, mankind has become obsessed with shaking off the burden of friction, fueling an unending fascination with all things hovering. Sadly, progress has been slow. The closest we’ve come to the sci-fi dream of floating speeders and hoverboards is… the hovercraft. And let’s be honest, it’s not exactly Back to the Future II material. But then along came propeller-driven drones, rekindling the dream of making anything hover.
Sure, propeller-driven tech is from the ion propulsion tech we all imagined or any fancy anti-gravity device, but it works. One research outfit has taken this technology and, wait for it, created the world’s first hovering shopping cart. Yes, you heard that right. A hovering shopping cart.
Folks, meet the Palletrone Cart, the ultimate aerial cargo transport by the Mobile Robotics Labs [KR] of Seoul National University of Science and Technology (or SeoulTech). Forget stairs, curbs, or uneven terrain—this bad boy flies—literally. Designed for physical Human-Robot Interaction (pHRI), you push and pull it like a regular cart, but with the added bonus of it gliding through the air. It’s perfect for those who prefer their grocery trips with a side of sci-fi.
I see people are obsessed with how this so-called hover cart might create a ding. It sure will—for now—but what these people failed to appreciate is how the researchers pulled this off through a custom flight algorithm. With a thing called an admittance controller, this cart doesn’t just float aimlessly. It responds to your gentle (or not-so-gentle) nudges, adjusting its altitude and trajectory as if it were reading your mind.
In several exciting experiments, the Palletrone cart proved it could transport cargo while calmly following a human across various paths. Plus, it handled the challenge of loading and unloading cargo with ease—something regular shopping carts could only dream of doing.
In several thrilling experiments, the Palletrone demonstrated its sky-bound prowess. First, it showed off how its flight characteristics could be changed with some good ol’ controller parameter tuning. Then it wowed everyone by calmly following a human across various paths, almost like a loyal pet – but one that flies and carries your stuff. Finally, in the grand finale, it transported cargo over a large-scale environment without flinching. Take that, regular old shopping carts.
Hovering shopping carts are not a thing yet, unfortunately. For now, this will remain a research project but I am pretty sure your adult grandkids will be pushing this along the aisle of supermarkets in the future. Meanwhile, folks who are curious and want to learn more can dive into the research project in a paper published in Journals & Magazines by the researchers.
Images: SeoulTech via YouTube (@박건우).
