MAPPING THE JOURNEY
Traversing across Rajasthan to explore how the new travel gadget KOGO enhances road-trips
Before the pandemic crippled our travel plans for rest of the year, I managed to take a trip to Rajasthan to test KOGO, a uni ed platform for Arti cial Intelligence enabled trip videos and stories.
Launched earlier this year, KOGO seeks to provide a one-stop solution for globetrotters to create, discover, share and engage with a larger community of passionate travellers. Simply put, the product acts as an interesting travel companion for those who love riding, driving, cycling or hiking.
HOW KOGO WORKS?
• Switch on KOGO bot.
• Pair it with KOGO app.
• Start your trip and select your destination.
• Track your trip, create moments and share it on social media platforms.
EN ROUTE TO KHIMSAR
For my road-trip in the royal state, my company and I covered the scenic route
from Jodhpur to Khimsar. Intrigued by the nitty-gritty of KOGO, we ooded the app with snaps of anything and everything that grabbed our attention on the way. It was a riveting experience to share memories of the alluring sunset, bird’s-eye-view of the “Blue City” Jodhpur and piping hot chai with spicy fritters at a local stall, with a group of people tied together by their shared love for exploration.
KOGO automatically syncs photos, videos and text with the route, stops and moments. erefore, a er covering a distance of around 107 km, what we got in the end was a beautiful curation of our travel stories in the form of a video, created by the AI powered KOGO app along with the sensor rich KOGO bot.
Another interesting feature is the carousel view that gives a uni ed display of stories, videos, maps and live features simultaneously.
WHY KOGO?
• We love how easy to carry the bot is. It is small enough to be kept anywhere while travelling — mount it on your bike/car or put it into your backpack.
• For travellers particularly solo road-trippers, it is not always convenient to make stops every now and then. In such scenarios, the device comes handy for those who wish to track every minute detail of trip capturing routes, stops, places of interest and weather without much hassle.
• If you are travelling in a no network area, the bot stores up to 20 days of o ine content.
• e GPS tracker o ers an accurate and highly precise result, saving you from exhausting your phone battery while on the go.
• e bot has a long battery life and can be used for ten days straight.
WHAT’S NEW?
Keeping in mind the safety and social distancing aspect, there has been a signi cant increase in road travel. Realising the demand for a well-equipped travel gadget in such times, the KOGO team, headed by Raj K Gopalakrishnan and Praveer Kochhar, has worked on an updated version of the travel device. One of the striking new characteristics is AI trip videos with completely automated videos created by KOGO’s proprietary AI video engine.
KOGO 2.0 comes with a new travel engagement feature, KOGO uests, enabling people to participate in travel quests and challenges or create their own and win rewards and recognition. Enhanced discovery of trips, people and quests with
lters such as nearby, trip duration, distance, tags and recommendations are available.
e new avatar allows you to ask for live help from other travellers and the community while on a trip.
Direct messaging between users is also available now.
e KOGO app is free to download on Android and iOS. e KOGO bot is available at an introductory price of `7,749 at shop.kogotrips.com, Amazon and across a network of 125 points of sale in India. kogotrips.com
KOGO automatically syncs photos, videos and text with the route, stops and moments