HARDWARE
InteleCady looks like a cross between a pull cart and an outsize vacuum cleaner. On a recent fine day at the Valley's San Jose Country Club, my first instincts were to treat the self-propelled robot like a riding cart - select club, swing club, return club to bag. But that's defeating both its skills and its charm.
Seven years in development by local startup GolfPro International, the InteleCady carries two golf bags around a course, following its assigned players and showing them locations and distance calculations on its LCD screen. The device, which contains six computer processors, uses detailed onboard course maps and differential GPS to locate itself within a few feet. When the robot needs greater accuracy - say, upon crossing a bridge - it uses embedded ultrasound sensors, which also help it avoid unexpected objects such as golfers or another bot. The InteleCady is programmed to avoid sensitive areas like greens and tee boxes but otherwise follows the golfer who last pushed his or her beeper-sized call button.
San Jose's first hole is a slightly downhill, dogleg-left, 303-yard par 4 with an elevated green. I hit my 4-iron 193 yards down the middle. My golf partner, Frank, found the left rough, and we walked off the tee box with only our drivers - yakking about the weather, happy to be out on a workday, only occasionally stealing quick looks over our shoulders to make sure our robo-caddie was keeping pace. It was the closest we will ever get to feeling like pros.
Alongside my ball, InteleCady pulled up a map on its screen: 115 yards to the flag. Three duffs later, I was on the green; InteleCady circled around to wait for us at the next tee. The rest of the round fell in line. Frank and I were all over the course; InteleCady followed us diligently, rendering new maps on the fly.
GolfPro spent $27 million developing the device, and now more than a dozen of them are licensed by Silicon Valley courses in a revenue-sharing model. The caddie should appear at 20 public sites in California by June.
So is InteleCady perfect? Hardly. It should offer recommendations and specialized knowledge ("We're playing at sea level - you should add a club"), the way a real caddie would, and its maps need to be rendered more quickly. Hell, let's throw in a drink holder while we're at it.
Still, I doubt many golfers would argue with InteleCady's benefits. This robot brings golf back to how it was meant to be played: on your feet.
InteleCady: $20 (rental). GolfPro International: +1 (408) 235 8001, www.icady.com.
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