If you aren’t familiar with the Italian manufacturer, Piaggio, you may have seen one of their world famous scooters roaming the streets of Metro Manila — The Vespa. The Vespa always had a classic charm about it and its a design language that’s been carried over to this day, but that doesn’t mean that the people of the Piaggio group aren’t looking forward and utilizing the technology available today. Late last year, the company announced Project Elettrico; if you haven’t guessed by its name, its for their electric powered scooters. Today, the Piaggio Group introduces two products that takes them from old school to something a little more sci-fi, their lightweight delivery systems the company are calling, the Gita and the Kilo.
The Gita, pronounced jee-ta as one of our sources is quick to point out, looks like an early prototype of a droid straight out of Star Wars and we can easily someone painting it like an R2 unit or like BB-8 once it’s available for sale. This 26-inch tall, two-wheeled little bot was to lighten your load. The Piaggio Group says that the Gita can carry up to 18 KG, that’s 40 pounds if you aren’t into the metric system.
If you need to lug around more stuff, there’s also the Kilo. The Kilo is capable of carrying 100KG in its 120 liter comparment. Of course to get more stability, the Kilo goes from two to three wheels and looks more like a tractor than it does a droid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ntnzu0B6Bs
The Kilo and Gita have two modes. An autonomous mode that lets the transport droids make deliveries as you can see in the video above, or they can be set to follow you around  as you go about your day; the follow function requires you to wear a wearable device. Both can achieve speeds of up to 35kph with a battery that will last up to 8 hours if it maintains a certain pace. Of course, we don’t think that both the Gita and Kilo will see autonomous applications here in the Philippines, because… Well, let’s be honest… Madaming makukulit ang kamay dito. Mahirap na!Â
Gotta admit thoough, they’re pretty cool.
