FULL STORY:  We’ve been promised flying cars for about 100 years, but is anyone actually working on it?  Because all we’re getting is LESS awesome stuff, like flying . . . shopping carts?

A robotics team in South Korea is developing something called a Palletrone . . . which is a combination of a pallet and a drone.

It’s supposed to be an improvement on a shopping cart, that can go over any kind of terrain, including up and down stairs.

The current version of the Palletrone isn’t that smart.  It can hover at a certain height, while safely balancing whatever cargo you put on top . . . and it doesn’t even have to be a basket, it’s stable enough that it’s more like a table.

But a human still has to control it.  There’s a handle on the front like a normal shopping cart and you exert force to direct it.  We’re assuming it requires a lot less effort than an actual cart . . . especially one that has a bad wheel.

And if people leave this cart in the middle of the parking lot, it’ll remain stationary, at least until it runs out of batteries.

Speaking of that, there’s also a solution to the battery life problem.  They’re working on a “docking system” that allows one Palletrone to change the battery of another . . . in-flight.

Now, these won’t be showing up at your local Target any time soon.

They’re still in the early testing phase, where the carts are only holding about seven pounds of cargo . . . less than a gallon of milk.

And since there aren’t many stores or parking lots that require you to go up and down steps, you MAY be hoping that this is something that could carry your bags up the steps to your apartment . . . but that probably isn’t realistic.

The developers say they believe this will be most practical for commercial and industrial use, rather than residential.

Obviously, this isn’t a finished product, so who knows what it may eventually be able to do. 

(IEEE Spectrum) 

(Here’s recent footage of the Palletrone.)