World's first self-pushing pram lets parents go 'hands-free'

Have you ever been walking in the park, pushing your child in the pram and wished you'd had both hands free for running, checking Instagram or drinking your coffee?

Well the people at Smartbe have.

The start-up company, who are now running an IndieGoGo campaign to raise $80,000 for their production costs, have designed the world's first self-pushing 'intelligent' pram.

The Smartbe pram is hands-free and tracks the parent, or whoever is pushing the buggy, via a smartphone app.

Using motion tracking to ensure the pram maintains the pace of whoever is walking alongside and presumably doesn't run off down a hill, Smartbe are trying to make hands-free parenting the way forward.

According to the designers, the pram will stop when you stop and speed up when you increase your pace all while maintaining enough of a distance to not trip you on the wheels.

In case that was technologically-snazzy enough for you, the pram also has an in-built bottle warmer (perfect for that coffee), a webcam to look at your baby and a wireless speaker for music.

As well as a security lock, lighting system and anti-theft alarm – it sounds like more like a fortress than a pushchair.

Despite the maker's protests that it is 100% safe, we still aren't completely convinced about leaving our newborn baby in the care of a self-running pram - or maybe we are just stuck in the dark ages?

What if it needs to do a software update or crashes like any other computer? We have visions of chasing it down the high street...

There is a physical cord that connects the parent's wrist to the buggy at all times in case something goes wrong and if pulled, the pram stops automatically.

But just in case you're still feeling like a bit of a techno-phobe and don't have complete faith in the automatic mode, you do have the option to change to manual where you push yourself or assist-propelled mode, which helps you push.

Now that sounds like something we could get on board with.

Although you will need £2750 in the bank. Perhaps we'll just stick with pushing.