GITEX 2023, the world’s largest tech conference has just wrapped up. Previewing how future technology will unfold, the massive event displayed the latest advancements in artificial intelligence, robots, cool gadgets, smart wearables, and everything in between.
But like all good tech conferences, we not only witnessed truly remarkable tech, but also the slightly odd, the wild and the downright bizarre. With everything from football-playing robots to computers built into giant shoes, and giant holographic displays, this Dubai-based show offered spectacle as much as innovation.
After wading through some truly wacky stalls and booths firsthand, we picked out our personal favourite highlights from the event to show the weirder ways the world of tech is heading.
A football-playing robot that's rubbish at football
GITEX was a big moment for robots playing football. Two different competitors were shown off at the event, one intended to rival the likes of Messi with huge advancements in hardware, and a second group of robots filling out an entire team.
So, is the robot uprising of football happening…? Lionel can rest easy. ATLAS, a football-playing robot built by a team of researchers from UCLA, was put to the test at GITEX, having a kickabout with its creator.
The ball was rolled towards ATLAS and with a gentle kick, it returned the ball… at least once. As time went on, it became clear that the robot required the ball to be set in one particular spot, not exactly ideal on a fast-moving football field.
However, it is worth pointing out that ATLAS was remote-controlled during the demonstration we saw – the machine normally runs autonomously. Maybe without interference from its creators, ATLAS could leave the best football players in the dirt. But it's unlikely.
ATLAS alone wasn’t much of a player, so it will come as no surprise that its smaller, less technically able friends weren’t much better. We watched as a team of robot-playing bots were repeatedly beaten by humans. Sure, a nice boost to the ego but they weren’t exactly much competition.
A regenerating kidney
Rokit Healthcare had one of the more intriguing promises of a stall at GITEX, offering to regenerate our organs.
Through the use of tissue harvesting, bio-ink materials, and a 3D printer, this company states that it can grow tissue to close large wounds, fix cartilage in the bones and even treat chronic kidney disease.
These are obviously big and impressive claims. But, perhaps unsurprisingly, there were no live demonstrations here.
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A teeny teeny tiny working factory
What is this? A factory for ants! Actually, it is a full-process factory, taking over the operations all the way from accepting orders, through the construction of packages and even shipment.
The concept is fairly simple. Once a business has been setup with products, an ordering system and... well, customers, this machine can do the rest.
Working through the process, orders come into the machine's system. These orders are processed and the correct materials descend into the processing section. The machine then puts the product together, matching the requested order.
The product then slides along into a quality check section, examining each product for inconsistencies, errors or damage, before finally heading to the packaging section.
This could be used to set up a business for toys, jewellery, cakes or a host of other products. All that is needed is a bit of setting up before hand.
A soulless business card bot
Life is all about finding a purpose that drives you, that makes you feel fulfilled and happy… so we’re glad this robot isn’t sentient because that realisation would be somewhat crushing.
As you enter GITEX, this robot had one simple goal, hand out business cards. With a stack of cards, two arms, a pained smile that comes from the madness of repetition, and a simple set of code, this robot picked up the cards, held them out in front and repeated… all day, every day.
A robot unbeatable at checkers
In 1997, one of the world’s leading chess grandmasters was beaten by a robot. Then, in 2016, Google’s AlphaGo robot beat one of the greatest players in Go, often called the hardest board game of all time. Now, the trifecta has been finished as a robot beat me in checkers.
Okay, so this isn’t quite as impressive. We don’t actually know how to play checkers, but even with the help of a crowd of our fans (or conference-goers, it’s hard to tell), we were no match.
Do we feel bad? With the incredibly advanced arm knowing every move possible, constantly planning ahead, and being trained on hours and hours of real-life gameplay… yes, yes we feel bad about it.
A personal working-from-home silo
With the rise of working-from-home habits, it is about time we upgraded our personal offices a bit. But a table and chair are boring. Instead, why not cocoon yourself in an egg-like desk, complete with in-built monitors, adjustable chairs and desks and a variety of gizmos?
Sure, you could question where you’ll put it, or if you really want to look like an evil villain hacker while you work. But it is nice to dream of a world where your office can all be built into one freakish contraption.
A new form of video calling
Spurred on by the isolation of the pandemic, video call technology has seen vast improvements in recent years. Some companies have invested in higher quality cameras, some in better microphones, and some have gone all in on making the video call a completely new experience.
One booth at GITEX was all about turning the video call into an illusion. Stand in front of a box and a person across the world can see you 'inside' of it. While it would look like you were sat inside, it is all done via clever camera angles and the use of space.
Your video call partner could be on the other side of the world while appearing like they are sitting a few feet away.
A computer in a shoe
Who says the housing for your desktop computer has to be boring? Long has the traditional tower model, a sea of rectangular black cases, been used, but plenty at GITEX looked to mix up the formula.
While this looks more like Optimus Prime’s disembodied foot, it is actually a complete housing for a computer.
Man's second best friend
If Boston Dynamics has taught us anything, it is that a robot dog is a crowdpleaser. Deep Robotics, a China-based robotics brand were one of the many companies at GITEX bringing the robotic feel to man’s best friend.
They showed off two models. The smaller of the two possessed a variety of skills, none of which are particularly useful in the ways we’ve come to expect from robots – it can do yoga, backflip, and do a little jog on the spot.
Go for the larger model and things get less fun and more serious. It can go upstairs, carry heavy weights, and even move at a running pace. While they look clumsy, the creators at the stand were quick to show their sturdiness, pushing, kicking, dragging and just generally fully abusing the robot dogs without so much as a wobble.
Elsewhere at the event were some other robotic dogs which were a lot more menacing. If The Terminator had a pet, this would be it.
A sleep-inducing helmet
Approaching this stall, it wasn’t quite clear if we were about to learn about a unique new piece of tech, have our memory wiped or find out which Hogwarts house we were going to be put in.
A mysterious white helmet lay on the table with signs indicating it would change our life. An intriguing promise, and oddly similar to the stories of how people find themselves suddenly in a cult.
The SleePYA helmet is a brain-stimulating device that aims to help sufferers of insomnia get a good night’s sleep. It supposedly does this by using near-infrared light to deliver energy to the mitochondria.
Considering both the facts that this is still a developing area of science and that the helmet will cost 8 million Korean Won (over £5000), it’s not exactly a product that is sitting near the top of our wish list.
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