Immersive hands-on experience @ SITEX 16

Singapore’s annual lifestyle technology show – SITEX – will be taken up a notch this year with new experiential activities and promises to be educational, entertaining and engaging for visitors.

Taking place at the Singapore Expo Halls 5 and 6 from today till Sunday, SITEX is set to deliver a more immersive experience at the three thematic zones – Adventure IT, Gaming Arena and Smart Home & Appliances.

SITEX 2016 opens to the public today.

As well, a brand new technology zone will enable visitors to preview the latest technology innovations and try out some of the new gadgets available at the show.

Said Adrian Sng, General Manager of SingEx Exhibitions, the organisers of SITEX, “Consumers are more sophisticated today and they are looking beyond the next bargain in a consumer technology show. We have listened to the pulse of the market and the voices of visitors. We intend to heighten the visitor experience by providing them with the first hands on experience on pioneering products and solutions which can enhance home living and family entertainment, improve fitness and dance workouts and others.”

Prior to the opening of SITEX this morning, members of the media were given a sneak preview of SITEX and we were taken on a tour through the unique SITEX zones.

Smart Home and Appliances

Presented by Homeation and powered by Fibaro, a smart home company that specialises in connecting hardware appliances seamlessly, demonstrates new advances in smart home technology that will contribute to smarter living and added convenience for the family.

Some of these conveniences include:

Take a peep at a smart home.

The Home Intelligent System that collects meteorological data from your family’s daily activities to cater to the needs and habits of your family throughout the day. These include adjusting temperatures and lighting in the house to match your needs, as well as filling your bathtub to the perfect water temperature and your coffee automatically being brewed in the kitchen.
Automated security systems which self-activates the moment you step out of the house, which includes turning off all devices at home, arming the alarm system and locking the doors. It also gives you a view of what is going on in the home when the elderly and kids are at home, to eliminate guesswork and possible anxiety.
Automated cleaning robots to eliminate the hassle of household chores
Sleek furnishing and easy to use interfaces that are affordable, easy to manage and without the need of special software or technical services.

Turn your home into a smart home.

At this section, the media was taken through a mock up of a smart home – I thought that the demonstration was quite impressive, in terms of how automated everything had been; what captured my attention the most though, was that the press of a single button could switch off all the vital energy appliances at home, so that you would not need to hop from one room to the next to turn everything off before say, you leave the house for a holiday.

Visitors who are interested can book one of five guided daily tours around the Smart Home showroom at www.sitex.com.sg. This section is also housing a “Trivia and Win” contest whereby participants can walk away with a Fibaro Starter Kit worth SGD799.

Tech Zone

Consisting of Pixel Labs presented by IMDA (InfoComm media authority development) Labs and NTU (Nanyang Technological University) Intelligent Systems, the Tech Zone showcases the best robotic projects by NTU student teams as well as the SITEX Innovation Alley presented by SiTF.

Robotics projects on display.

IMDA Pixel Labs – Taking part in SITEX for the first time, this aims to spark innovative thinking and experimentation amongst the youth of Singapore. The activities give opportunities for parents to interest and nurture their children to be creative and inventive at an easy stage through new technologies. Activities include learning to develop a realistic prototype of an immersive environment and taking part in robotics-based challenges.I had been quite interested in the 3D printer that was being demonstrated to us at the media preview; it was quite cool how this worked and how it was able to print out figurines in many interesting shapes and sizes, ranging from Bulbasaur and a Pokeball, to mini doll-sized human figurines of an entire family.
NTU Intelligent Systems – This features some of the top innovations created from scratch by NTU student teams and showcases award winning robots from the annual RoboMasters competition. Visitors can personally control and manoeuvre these robots and drones, with the student teams demonstrating the functions and explaining the design rational behind the robots.Members of the media were treated to a glimpse of how the robots functioned; these include a robot shooting pellets and another one skilfully navigating a maze. It was quite impressive.
SITEX Innovation Alley – This area showcases 16 local start-ups and presents the latest technology innovations in Singapore that enhances the human experience in learning, healthcare and online shopping.Some of the more interesting innovations that members of the media were given a demonstration of, had included a proprietary platform to create marketplaces within minutes, and a healthcare solution to train your cognitive skills to prevent mental issues like dementia.

3D printer in action.

Adventure IT Zone

This zone is a high energy sports area, and is in collaboration with MegaZip and GoPro, where personal technology devices inject fun and elevate fitness are taking centre stage.

Visitors here can have fun in the free play trampoline bounce on MegaAir, or form teams to have a go at CrazyBounce – a slam dunk arena on a trampoline while interacting with GoPro action cameras.

Have a go on the trampolines.

The GoPro action cameras here, also have access to voice recognition capabilities, so this means that you can go completely hands-free when you are exercising. I thought that the feature was quite cool.

Participants here can submit their best captured Slam Dunk shots and win attractive prizes daily from 6pm-7pm.

The 360Sky, a camera that captures 360-degree views of your favourite moments and streams this straight into the computer, is also available; and the images are quite incredible.

DanceTex

Making its debut this year at SITEX, DanceTex is all about encouraging dancing talents to leverage wearable technology and innovative gadgets during their training and demonstrating the use of technology during their performances.

Said Andreas Chua, DanceTex judge, “Technology, both hardware and software, are increasingly being used by dance instructors and dancers in choreographing and rehearsing dance routines. Together with SITEX organisers, I hope that we can inspire more community alike to use technology to their advantage.”

Applications to take part in DanceTex closed on 7 November and the finals will be conducted on 26 November (3pm-5.45pm) and 27 November (3.30pm-7pm). The public can vote for their favourites via YouTube.

Gaming Zone

In collaboration with GamePro Singapore, this area features virtual reality gaming (VR) with an experimental zone to challenge, stimulate, amuse and thrill visitors. According to the organisers, this is many times more immersive as compared to the traditional gaming experience; and visitors to SITEX will have the chance take part in both at the same time – so that they can compare the differences.

There is also a motion tracking VR experience; when you walk or move, your motion is tracked and you can also interact within the interface of the virtual world itself. This had looked really cool when we saw it during the media preview.

Experience the motion tracking VR.

As well, avid gamers can also take part in the SITEX Cup and the Singapore e-sports League, both of which is happening at SITEX for the second straight year.

Said Ng Tian Beng, Chairman of SITEX, “The support of our loyal customers and partners have made SITEX the highly anticipated lifestyle technology event. Their vote of confidence serves as an affirmation for us to raise the bar each year and showcase more inspirational applications and devices that affect the way we live our lives.”