BLUESMART (2)
dimensions of a carry-on to those of a
full-size checkedbag, allowing travel-
ers touse thesame luggage forsmallor
large journeys. Their campaign raised
justover$400,000.
Justbecausealloftheseproductsare
on thehorizon, though, doesn’tmean
that tomorrow’s business travelerwill
haveautopiansetofsmart luggage.Like
manynewhardwareprojectsunderde-
velopment,smart-luggagestartupsface
theenormous taskof findingmanufac-
turingpartnersandscalingupoperations
anddistribution.Addtothatthecostsof
rigorous testing andproduct support,
andthemillionsraisedbycrowdfunding
can quickly dwindle. Finsix, a crowd-
funded startup that promised todeliv-
er “Dart: TheWorld’s Smallest Laptop
Adapter,” inNovember2014, endedup
pushingtheirdeliveryintosummer2015.
Infact,accordingtoarecentCNNstudy,
84percentofKickstarter’s topprojects
shipped late.
Still,entrepreneursremainconfident
in the future of smart luggage. “We’re
definitely considering expanding the
lineofsmart luggage, sincethe features
we developed and patentedwould be
usefulonmanydifferentkindsofbags,”
Saez-Gilforecasts.“Ourproductionplan
entails shipping thecurrentBluesmart
luggage inAugustof 2015.Theremight
beunexpectedchallengesalongtheway,
butso far, thingsareon track.”
crowdfundingcampaignthatraisedover
$2millionwith thehopesof delivering
thenextgenerationofsmart luggage.
“Whenwe started researching the
luggagemarket,wecouldn’tbelievehow
little innovation therehas been in the
lastfewdecades,”Bluesmartco-founder
DiegoSaez-Gil tellsme. “If you think
about it, the lastbig innovationwasadd-
ingwheels, and that happened in 1971,
justafterweputamanon themoon.”
When shipped later this year,
Bluesmart’s bagswill be able tobe au-
tomaticallyandinstantaneouslytracked
by the company’s companion app, giv-
ing travelers extraassurance that their
checkedbagsareonboardandknowing
theirbag’s location intheevent it is lost.
Alockintegratedintothezipperwillalso
automatically engagewhen the bag is
awayfrom itsowner, thankstotheprox-
imitydetection enabledbyBluetooth.
Whenusersareneartheir luggage, they
canuseanintegratedscaletoweightheir
bag or evenplug their phone into the
onboardbattery.
Saez-Gil’s idea attracted top-
notchmanufacturing partners like Y
Combinator and other SiliconValley
investorsandgotextrafuel fromcrowd-
funding, a relativelynew concept that
gives aspiring entrepreneurs a plat-
form forpitchingdesignsandsoliciting
pledges inexchange forearlyproducts.
It’sastrategy that’squicklycatchingon
among similar hardware startups that
areflocking to sites like Indiegogo.com
andKickstarter.com tovet their ideas.
“We’re seeingmoreandmore smart
devices coming toKickstarter,” John
Dimatos, the lead for tech anddesign
partnerships atKickstarter, explains.
“As sensor technology gets easier to
integrateanddesignersgetmore inter-
ested inproductdevelopment, Iexpect
toseemoresmart-luggageprojectscome
down the product chain.” Last year,
Kickstarter playedhost toover 11,000
product-designandtechnologyprojects.
For now, the crowdfundingmodel
for luggage innovations seems to be
working.NewYorkCity-based startup
Trunkster is developing luggage con-
cepts with a unique
access mechanism.
Instead of zipping
around theperimeter
of the bag, travelers
will be able to access
theiroxfordshirtsand
wooltrousersbyslidingopentheentire
frontpanel—similar toabreadboxora
garagedoor.LikeBluesmart,they’realso
includinganonboardbatteryand scale
among their features. So far, they’ve
raised over $1.3million to fund their
campaign.
Other luggage projects across the
crowdfunding spectrumpropose con-
cepts frombedbugproofing toan inte-
grated solar-powered scooter. Fugu, an
Israeli-based startup, funded its cam-
paign on the concept of expandable
luggage. Anonboardpump in thepro-
totypecan inflatetheir luggagefromthe
“IFYOUTHINKABOUT IT, THELASTBIG
INNOVATIONWASADDINGWHEELS,
ANDTHATHAPPENED IN 1971, JUST
AFTERWEPUTAMANONTHEMOON.”
Trainedasamaterialsengineer,
GRANTMARTIN
splitshis timebetweenwritingandbusiness
development.Hestill travelswithabackpack.
88
JUNE2015
AMERICANWAY
FROM
LEFT
:Bluetooth technologyand
iPadand iPhoneadaptabilitywill soon
becoming toasuitcasenearyou.
TECH
