Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

Latest By
Category:


Armor
Artificial Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work

"The only real way to maintain privacy is to be uninteresting. It may be that privacy is a passing fad."
- Larry Niven

Autoporter  
  A device that carries your bag for you at airports.  

Another great thing - that I can't get.

...he nabbed an autoporter and - after consulting the illuminated fee table on its flank - credded the minimum: $35 for an hour's service...

From now until his credit expired the machine would carry his bag in its soft plastic jaws and follow him as faithfully as a well-trained hound, which indeed it resembled, down to the whimper it was programmed to utter at the 55-minute mark, and the howl at 58.

At 60 it would drop the bag and slink away.

Technovelgy from The Shockwave Rider, by John Brunner.
Published by Harper and Row in 1975
Additional resources -

This is a much better option than those rental luggage carriers, since you don't need to push it. Besides, the canine reference brings with it a welcome sense of loyal service (what you would expect from your dog).

Compare to the televox robot porter from On Board the Martian Liner (1931) by Miles J. Breuer and to Luggage (with legs) from The Color of Magic (1983) by Terry Pratchett.

Comment/Join this discussion ( 1 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |

Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from The Shockwave Rider
  More Ideas and Technology by John Brunner
  Tech news articles related to The Shockwave Rider
  Tech news articles related to works by John Brunner

Autoporter-related news articles:
  - TMSUK Robot Carries Your Bags
  - Porter 'Robots' For Baggage, If Not People
  - Russian Robot Suitcase
  - RoboPorter Carries Your Baggage, Guides You
  - Live Luggage Ready To Roll
  - Shadow Caddy Robot Is Golfer's Dream Bot
  - Dog Wan Robot Available For Lease
  - Robotic Wheelchair Autonomously Follows Walking Companion
  - The Robotic Shopping Cart Of The Future
  - Budgee Robot Carries Your Bags
  - Oh, Just Let Robots Run Airports
  - Robotic Suitcase Follows You
  - Walmart Shopping Cart Robots Will Follow You
  - You Can't Lose The Travelmate Autonomous Suitcase - It Follows You
  - Piaggio Gita Personal Robot Porter
  - Soon, Your Tesla Will Follow You Like A Pet
  - Updated Piaggio Gita Personal Robot Porter
  - WaPOCHI Micro-Mobility Robot Follows Like A Pet With Your Bags

Articles related to Travel
Google's Cartographer Backpack For Indoor Mapping
Live Luggage Ready To Roll
Porter 'Robots' For Baggage, If Not People
Tweel - (Almost) A Smart Wheel

Want to Contribute an Item? It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add it here.

<Previous
Next>

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

 

 

Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Science Fiction in the News

Grok And The City Fathers From 'Cities In Flight' By James Blish
'Chris, the City Fathers are not interested in your welfare; I suppose you know that. They're interested in only one thing: the survival of the city.'

Why Not Move A Warehouse District?
'Did you never see a moving house before?'

Will An AI Found A New Religion?
'You must decide how you will worship Me.'

Terraformer Industries Make Methane
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock...'

I Need An Outdoor Spherical Display
'Usually a spherical display hovered in the centre...'

Worm Disrupts Physics Simulations Undetected For A Decade
'It diverts integers of the data, the fundamental message-units, so that they no longer agree.'

Muxcard Redditor's DIY Credit Card-Sized Computer
It's a computer, but just barely.

'Soft Assembly' Fashions That Fashion Themselves On The Wearer
'Clothes are no longer made from dead fibers of fixed color and texture that can approximate only crudely to the vagrant human figure...'

Orwell's Nightmare Of AI-Written Novels Comes To Pass
'Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces.'

ISS Plagued By Leak - Again!
'There were perhaps a dozen bladder-like objects in the tunnel...'

More SF in the News

More Beyond Technovelgy

Home | Glossary | Science Fiction Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.