Nextfest

Last weekend we also went to an exhibition called Nextfest. It was HUGE! It covered technological advances in the future of exploration, security, transportation, communication, design, green, play and health. There were some really cool things on show. I particularly liked the robots (see the pictures). The blue and pink things were dancing robots that I suspect are designed to dance with a human partner. The male robot had face recognition software and has a personality that can be communicated with online. He had some problems on the day due to the number of faces he was required to store!

This invention is supposedly the future of motorcycles. I sat in it and it felt nothing like my bike! They also had a few cars on show that looked much like cars of today, but ran on electricity and used cameras instead of mirrors etc.

I lined up to have my picture taken as an astronaut! It was all done digitally (gone are the days of sticking your head through a cardboard cut out!). It probably wasn't worth the wait, and check out the expression!
Something I thought that was really cool, but didn't get a photo of, was a game called brainball. Two players sit across a special table wearing brainwave-detecting headbands. The headbands monitor each player's stress level indicating alpha and theta waves, and report the data to a computer that directs the ball away from the stress and toward the calm. So, to score and win you need to stay mellow and in control!
We also got to try a new Coke product that is a coffee flavoured energy drink. It wasn't bad, but needed to be very cold.