Meet Sunflower, an US$8,000 robotic umbrella that moves with the sun
It also has a built-in entertainment system, security camera, and can serve as a Wi-Fi hotspot
By Avery Hartmans
Beach umbrellas have now officially gone high-tech.
At the CES trade show here on Tuesday, a startup called Shadecraft unveiled Sunflower, a robotic “sun shade.” Sunflower is solar-powered and tracks the sun, adjusting its position to keep you shaded at all times.
But Shadecraft is billing Sunflower as a whole lot more than a fancy beach umbrella. It can connect to your home network via Wi-Fi and allow you to interact with your smart-home devices using Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. You can listen to music via its built-in Harmon Kardon speakers, and it can help monitor your house with the camera that’s built into its pole.
It can also charge your phone and can act as a Wi-Fi hotspot when you’re at the beach, if you activate its cellular service.
Here’s Sunflower in action: