This High-Tech Hands-Free Stroller That Follows You Around Is the Stuff of Nightmares

If you’re the type of person who loves new tech toys, or if pushing your baby in a stroller just seems like a tad too much work, we have something exciting for you: Smartbe.

Fully funded through Indiegogo in 2016, Smartbe is the high-tech stroller of your dreams. Since I tend to err on the side of overprotective, this particular item is actually a thing of nightmares for me.

Smartbe allows you to control everything about it with your smartphone. Powered by an electric engine (with up to six hours of battery life), the stroller will follow you around. (Sure, I’d just love a robot to follow me around all day. Especially one holding my child…) If an “unauthorized” person attempts to push Smartbe, an alarm sounds. Creepy.

Here are some other things the stroller can do that might make your life seem like it is straight out of a sci-fi novel: Using your phone, you can “climatize” the stroller (what ever happened to a simple baby blankie??). It also has a bottle warmer, a rocker, and it plays music. (Does this mean your baby will start demanding certain playlists?) If you’re away from your baby, a camera allows you to watch him remotely from your phone.

If you’re a runner, you can select “Running Mode” and have Smartbe “run” in front of you the entire time without needing to hold the handle. This is where I would draw the line, personally. I have visions (albeit paranoid) of the stroller going rogue, or being hacked, and having my baby whisked away at a speed faster than I can run. Or having the stroller ride itself right into traffic, or into an elderly person, or over a dog. Sure, it is supposed to just follow your movements, but what if…?!

For unknown reasons (or maybe those that I listed above?) the Smartbe has hit a manufacturing delay and the timeline to resume its production has not been announced. The company has even begun to offer refunds to the people who helped to fund the initiative.

You can watch this crazy, high-tech, kind of frightening stroller in action in the video below. Let us know what you think in the comments!