Baggage Blues No More: A Smart Suitcase Raises $1 Million on Indiegogo A team of engineers, entrepreneurs, and industrial designers are working to reinvent the suitcase.
By Catherine Clifford •
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Road-warrior entrepreneurs and wanderlust travel enthusiasts know that there is nothing worse than struggling with your luggage. A lost bag can turn a weekend getaway into an expensive headache pretty quickly.
That's why a team of self-described "group of geeks" with "a passion for travel, technology and design" have come together to raise the bar when it comes to baggage. Their Bluesmart crowdfunding campaign running on Indiegogo has raised more than $1 million, which is more than 2,000 percent of its $50,000 goal.
The Bluesmart suitcase pairs with an app on your phone. You can lock the suitcase from your phone, track its location, and, thanks to a sensor in the handle, get a digital weight reading by lifting up the suitcase. Sensors inside the suitcase automatically lock the travel-on size suitcase if you part from your bag.
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This next feature is clutch. How many times have you wandered around an airport searching for an outlet behind vending machines and in scuzzy hallway corners? An electronic charger built into the suitcase allows travelers to charge two devices at once with the Bluesmart and the suitcase charger has enough power for six smartphone charges at a time.
The product also aims to be a Fitbit of sorts for your travel life. It will track your miles traveled, airports visited and time spent in each country and display it on your Bluesmart app. Synced with your digital calendar, the app will also send you travel and packing reminders.
The modern-looking, blue and black suitcase has a front pouch that make for easy laptop and tablet access, making fishing out your tech gadgets in the airport security line so much less stressful.
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Super early adopter rates of $195 have sold out, but for $235, a donor to the crowdfunding campaign can get a Bluesmart suitcase when they come out in August 2015. The suitcases are expected to retail at $450 or more. Its makers say they have a working prototype that has been manufactured by a third-party partner and needs the crowdfunding funds to ramp up production.
The team behind Bluesmart isn't a group of amateurs; some of its members have founded other companies, others have backgrounds in aerospace engineering and product development.
The team also has a sense of humor. The crowdfunding campaign promises to make you the "coolest kid in the airport" and "the ultimate travel baller." "Take that, James Bond," the pitch says.
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Have a look at their crowdfunding campaign video, embedded below. It's pretty hilarious.
