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"The first thing that's wrong with being a science-fiction writer today is that the present has caught up with the future and surpassed it."
- Peter Watts

Autoporter  
  A device that carries your bag for you at airports.  

Another great thing - that I can't get.

...he nabbed an autoporter and - after consulting the illuminated fee table on its flank - credded the minimum: $35 for an hour's service...

From now until his credit expired the machine would carry his bag in its soft plastic jaws and follow him as faithfully as a well-trained hound, which indeed it resembled, down to the whimper it was programmed to utter at the 55-minute mark, and the howl at 58.

At 60 it would drop the bag and slink away.

From The Shockwave Rider, by John Brunner.
Published by Harper and Row in 1975
Additional resources -

This is a much better option than those rental luggage carriers, since you don't need to push it. Besides, the canine reference brings with it a welcome sense of loyal service (what you would expect from your dog).

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from The Shockwave Rider
  More Ideas and Technology by John Brunner
  Tech news articles related to The Shockwave Rider
  Tech news articles related to works by John Brunner

Autoporter-related news articles:
  - TMSUK Robot Carries Your Bags
  - Porter 'Robots' For Baggage, If Not People
  - Russian Robot Suitcase
  - RoboPorter Carries Your Baggage, Guides You
  - New Porter Robot - Matsushita Mechanorg
  - Live Luggage Ready To Roll
  - Shadow Caddy Robot Is Golfer's Dream Bot
  - Dog Wan Robot Available For Lease
  - Robotic Wheelchair Autonomously Follows Walking Companion
  - The Robotic Shopping Cart Of The Future

Articles related to Travel
Live Luggage Ready To Roll
Porter 'Robots' For Baggage, If Not People
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Water Taxi Himiko and the Nautilus: Separated at Birth?

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