The fridge of the future has wheels and follows you around the house

Developed by Panasonic, this is a smart home appliance that can be activated by voice and is able to reach the user, avoiding obstacles

You are on the couch watching a new episode of your favorite TV series. At some point you're hungry, but you're so lazy that you don't want to get up. Don't worry, in the future you'll just have to "call" the refrigerator. The merit is of Panasonic, which has devised an appliance with wheels that is activated through voice commands.

In reality, the intelligent refrigerator is still only a concept and it may be some time before we see it "dart" between the walls of the house. However, there is no doubt that the project of the Japanese company is very interesting. The Moveable Fridge, this is the name of the mobile device of Panasonic, is a refrigerator that in practice is able to leave its location and reach the user directly. It is enough, in fact, that the hungry person strives to activate the refrigerator using their voice. The futuristic concept was unveiled by the Rising Sun company at IFA 2017, the electronics fair that is organized every year in Berlin.

How it works

Broadly speaking, the Moveable Fridge works like one of the many robot vacuum cleaners used in the home. In fact, the appliance is capable of moving with agility, avoiding obstacles. Apparently, Panasonic's fridge will integrate LIDAR, a remote sensing technology that uses lasers to detect the distance between a device and an object. In addition, the Moveable Fridge will also have depth sensors on board. In this way, the device of the Japanese company will be able to move without the risk of colliding with what it encounters.

The lazy couch user will be left with the "arduous" task of calling the Panasonic fridge via voice commands. The device will thus abandon its station and set out in search of its "master". In peace with those who preach the importance of movement.