Held at the Javits Center in New York City from the 29th of September to the 1st of October, theWired Nextfext was a exhibition of innovative products and technologies that are transforming our world. Patterned on the great World's Fairs of the past, this year's NextFest in New York features more than 130 interactive exhibits from leading scientists and researchers around the world.
As a rabid technophle and futurist, I always love going to shows like this. Lookiing forward to what could be is what the Nextfest is all about! The event was a blast, and the concepts and devices exhibited gave the attendees a glimpse at facets of a possible future.
Here's a powered Monocycle called the Wheelsurf that can go up to 30 miles an hour. Cute.
Here is an animatronic Geisha. It is presented as a robot, but since the figure is not an independant entity it is actually the armature of the large box full of electronics behind it) it is more of an interested demo of technology than an example of a true android. It still looks cool, and the actions are eerily human-like.
These robotic dance partners are closer to the "real" thing as they are able to move about under their own power on the dance floor with their human partner. (I don't know if I'd be that desparate to dance, though.)
Here I am with the electric motorcycle (and its builder) used in a cross-country demonstration of alternative energy vehicles.
Some astronauts were on hand giving autographs to the masses of children at the event.
Here's a video game where a camera captures your image and places it in the game where you control it by moving your body. Neat, but it would require a large room to use it in.
GE had a large pavilion where they demonstrated green technologies.
Did I already say there were swarms of kids?
Not all of the kids were there as spectators. Here's a crew of students showing off their entry into one of the several robotic events held at the exposition.
This powered suit runs on compressed air, and increases the strength of a person to allow them to move things (and people) around with little effort.
Here's a minisub that lets relatively unskilled people like researchers and scientists (unskilled in deep diving, that is) operate in the deep ocean safely.
This haad suit lets skilled operators work at incredible depths with relative ease and extreme mobility
There were also some whimsical things on display such as this TV-enabled shoe. I can't even imaging how someone would use this thing in real life.
Here's a mist-screen projection system. These kind of things are an interesting eye-catcher, but currently of little utility in areas with high ambient light.
This is an interesting interactive display system that lets you change topic by sliding the screen from one image to another. This would be good in a museum or promotional kiosk.
Here's the HUBO robot from the Korea Advanced Institute of SCience and Technology. It combines an autonomous walking robot torso with an animatronic head and face. This one is patterned after Albert Einstein.
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