Little Wheels: From My Vespa to My Rollbot—
Full Circle with Piaggio

I call it Rollbot—though the world knows it as Gita, the elegant little follow-robot made by Piaggio Fast Forward (PFF) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. PFF is backed by the Piaggio Group of Italy, the legendary maker of the Vespa scooter, along with other motorcycle and mobility brands. That lineage matters, because Rollbot isn’t about replacing walking—it’s about making walking better.

PFF is led by Greg Lynn, a visionary architect, educator, and co-founder of the company, now in its tenth year. Greg’s career has explored bold new forms of architecture, robotic manufacturing, and future housing systems. He’s also been a longtime professor in the UCLA IDEAS Master of Architecture program in Playa Vista. His thinking bridges design, technology, and everyday life—and that philosophy shows up clearly in the Gita.

PFF makes two versions of Gita, which I think of as two sizes of Rollbots: the smaller gitamini and the larger gitaplus. Greg was generous enough to loan me a gitaplus for my long walking tour across Los Angeles County—LA2B—where it now carries my gear. That generosity meant a great deal, especially after recent heart surgery. On this journey, my Rollbot companion has a name my son Joe gave it: Dot.

While much of the world races toward autonomous vehicles that move people faster and farther, PFF has taken a quieter, more humane approach. Their robots are designed to help people walk more—to make everyday movement easier, healthier, and more enjoyable. Whether it’s carrying groceries home, hauling a picnic to the park, or supporting long-distance walking, Rollbot turns effort into possibility. And beyond personal use, PFF is now bringing follow-robots into commercial and workplace settings as well.

For me, Rollbot completes a circle that began back in 1981, when I was a high school student in Boulder, Colorado. I couldn’t afford a car, so I rode a Vespa scooter. It felt like freedom on two wheels, but with no roof in the rain or snow, and no real cargo space. That experience sparked my lifelong fascination with intermediate-scale vehicles: machines that offer more comfort and utility than a scooter, but less cost and bulk than a car. I began dreaming about the Neighborhood Electric Vehicle—before I even knew that term.

Now, decades later, I’m walking across an 88-city, 10-million-person county, accompanied by a small robot made possible by the same company that once powered my teenage independence. From Vespa to Rollbot, from riding to walking, the journey has come full circle—one right-sized rolling companion at a time.

Watch the History of Piaggio Fast Forward with co-founder and CEO Greg Lynn