What’s the worst part of trudging through the airport? Hassles at the ticket counter? Perhaps long security lines, or maybe a missed connecting flight?

All wrong — at least according to a batch of entrepreneurs who have determined that pulling your suitcase is as outdated as buying CDs or eating ambrosia salad. Last year a company called Coolpeds introduced a suitcase attached to an electric scooter (“The carry-on that carries you!’’). Two weeks ago the much-heralded Modobag arrived on the crowd-funding site Indiegogo. It’s a carry-on that you ride through the airport at speeds of up to 8 miles per hour. People seem to love it. I don’t mind saying that it looks like a suitcase that a clown would ride in a circus parade.

This week there’s a new carry-on in town. You can’t ride it, but thank goodness there’s no arduous pulling necessary. The hands-free Cowarobot R1 is an autonomous, smart suitcase that follows you. It simply traipses along beside you like a hybrid between a Roomba and a co-dependent dog. No need to touch the handle, it knows where you are

When I first saw a video of it in action I had several questions. The first was “What would be more practical: Spend $450 on a suitcase that follows me around like a robot stalker, or spend $450 on stock in RadioShack?’’

Don’t rush me, I’m still thinking.

A bracelet that you wear controls the Cowarobot R1. Hit the button, and your stalker carry-on follows you. If you try to ditch it, it will find you. There are benefits. If you leave it behind, it can tell you exactly where it is. There are already devices and apps that can track your luggage. But you still need to pull those suitcases yourself, and we’ve already established that nobody should pull their own suitcase anymore. It’s important to have both hands free so you can take a selfie with your suitcase following you.

I’ll admit that there are cool features on the suitcase, but if I owned a hands-free suitcase, I would be a wreck. When I’m traveling, I like to know where my belongings are at all times. Call me old fashioned (or just old), but I need to have my suitcase with me. What if my Cowarobot R1 stalker-Roomba-carry-on got thirsty and stopped at the airport bar for a beer and I couldn’t find it? Would it hear the announcement that it needed to go to the information desk? Fine, I made that part up, but I think many will relate to my fear of not having my hand on my suitcase.

It has a smart lock that you can open with your luggage bracelet, but if you’re anything like me, you’d forget the bracelet at your hotel. And then where would that leave you? Pulling your own locked suitcase around like a troglodyte straight out of 2015.

Christopher Muther can be reached at muther@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @Chris_Muther