Segways were already a little ridiculous, but now they have a robotic face on them—but hey, no CES is complete without some old fashioned robotics. This new product from Segway is somewhere between a personal assistant and a mode of transportation, which isn’t the craziest thing in the world when you think about it. Much of the potential behind such a product lies behind what developers will do with its open SDK. Here’s to hoping for a robot that isn’t a vacuum cleaner that could actually be useful around the house!
ONE PART HOVERBOARD, one part robot butler. Three parts super adorable. The Segway Advanced Personal Robot will hide away while you ride on its two wheels, then can pop out and carry your groceries or answer your doorbell. You can attach arms or other appendages, and turn the robot into basically anything you want. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich has five, apparently, but we’d take just one.
Segway, Intel, and Xiaomi are working together to build not just one rideable robot, but many. The Advanced Personal Robot is a long-term plan for the three companies, which plan to work with developers all over the world to make the robot respond to voice commands, see in the dark, and generally become both better and more adorable. When a rideable could also be your best friend and personal assistant, why would it ever be just a rideable anymore? It may not hover, but this is the coolest hoverboard we’ve seen in a while.