Technologies

This Star Wars Droid Follows You Around to Carry Your Bag for $2,875

The new Gita Mini acts and sounds like a Star Wars astromech droid, but it can’t co-pilot spacecraft.

I can’t justify paying over $2,500 for a robot that follows you around to carry a bag of groceries. But as soon as you slap on some Star Wars decals and give it R2-D2 beeps and bloops — well, the argument certainly changes.

The Giti Mini returns with a new Star Wars-themed version of the cargo-carrying robot, this time called the G1T4 M1N1, which you can see in action in the video embedded below. The hardware is generally the same: the self-balancing rolling bot uses cameras and sensors to follow its leader around, traveling up to 6 miles per hour and carrying a load of 20 pounds. But now, a few modifications make it appear to be an astromech droid from a galaxy far, far away.

The original Gita Mini, released in 2021 by Piaggio Fast Forward, is priced at $2,475. This Star Wars version is $2,875. The extra $400 gets you decals with delightful droid sound effects (and yes it sounds just like R2-D2). If you have a bad feeling about that price, maybe stick with the original and throw on some of your own decals and make your own beeps.

The Gita Mini can carry various objects with the lid open or shut — the lid doesn’t lock. So while it’s handy for carrying your collection of Star Wars novels, I wouldn’t put anything valuable in there, such as Death Star plans.

All Giti Mini units are built with a Bluetooth speaker for blasting your favorite John Williams jams, and there’s a galactic-regulation USB-A port for charging your data pad.

I spent a couple of hours with the new model in the CNET office. It was my second time hanging out with a Gita robot — the first was a larger prototype back in 2017. I was impressed at how the new M1N1 weaved through obstacles and took tight turns as I walked around. But it was also tempting to mess with its camera sensors. The sensor is supposed to visually imprint on the legs of its leader to follow you from a close distance. It imprints the moment you press a touchpad on the front.

I was wearing blue jeans. Other colleagues wearing blue jeans would trick the bot into following them, so the G1T4 M1N1 was easily fooled into abandoning its directive to follow me.

In another attempt to trick the droid, I put a rolling office chair in front the camera when I told it to imprint to a leader. It then believed the office chair was its new master, and followed the chair wherever it rolled. What can I say, I’m a reviewer who likes to mess with tech, and droids were made to suffer.

It’s also very easy to pick up, weighing just about 26 pounds when empty, which is handy if you need to adjust it. I’m not sure you might use it every day for errands if you’re worried about other people messing around with it. But it is a delightful way to have a Star Wars collectible that can do some work for you. Although lets be honest — you would just buy this to impress your friends as it carries drinks behind you a May the Fourth party. This is the way.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for March 15, #538

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for March 15, No. 538.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today is Selection Sunday, and the Connections: Sports Edition puzzle is all about the NCAA basketball tournament. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Oops!

Green group hint: Not the second word.

Blue group hint: They direct the team.

Purple group hint: They made it to the Big Dance.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Basketball fouls.

Green group: First words in NCAA tournament rounds.

Blue group: Women’s college basketball coaches.

Purple group: Teams qualified for the 2026 Men’s NCAA tournament.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is basketball fouls. The four answers are block, charge, hold and reach-in.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is first words in NCAA tournament rounds. The four answers are elite, final, second and sweet.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is women’s college basketball coaches. The four answers are Auriemma, Close, Ivey and Staley.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is teams qualified for the 2026 Men’s NCAA tournament. The four answers are Gonzaga, High Point, Queens and Troy.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Sunday, March 15

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 15.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Today’s wasn’t terribly tough, but read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: On-call doctor’s device
Answer: PAGER

6A clue: Amazon virtual assistant
Answer: ALEXA

7A clue: Host of the 2026 Oscars
Answer: CONAN

8A clue: Stumped on a puzzle, say
Answer: STUCK

9A clue: Aves. and blvds.
Answer: STS

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Election-influencing groups, for short
Answer: PACS

2D clue: Quite a few
Answer: ALOT

3D clue: The «Tyrannosaurus» of Tyrannosaurus rex
Answer: GENUS

4D clue: Right on
Answer: EXACT

5D clue: Puts in order from best to worst, maybe
Answer: RANKS

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for March 15, #1008

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for March 15, No. 1,008

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is kind of tough, but the yellow category has some fun options in it. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Mine, all mine!

Green group hint: A part you might use to build something.

Blue group hint: Blended words.

Purple group hint: Not a cow, but close.