26 September 2018 – Innotech Expo 2018
On the 26th of September, school started off just like any other day. While students from other forms stayed in their classrooms during the last lesson of the day, our form—form 4—had the wonderful opportunity to visit Hong Kong’s Innotech Expo, a once-per-year expo that showcases a huge variety of technology.
Once my friend and I stepped inside, all sorts of science-related exhibits flooded our eyes. From things as old as farming tools dating back to the Han dynasty to modern robotic arms to help us play the piano, from huge plans for extracting natural gas to small inventions used for patching up cuts in trees, everything imaginable was there. Even better, each exhibit had an expert standing next to it, ready to introduce the displayed item to you the second he caught you furrowing your brow.
The exhibit I liked the most was the one about virtual reality. The area consisted of a few different machines to try out different experiences, for instance, playing a VR game about putting out a fire, an outer space experience, and an earthquake simulation, which my friends and I chose. The simulator was set on a movable platform that shook and had 9 headsets with respective standing spots. Once we put on the headsets, the simulation started shortly after, the exact time determined by our unanimous cheer. As the floor beneath us started to shake, we were taken to a scene of a classroom crumbling around us. Students frantically scurried around as the teacher yelled at them to evacuate quickly, all while pieces of concrete tore themselves off the walls and onto the ground. Next, we were taken to a person's house, where we watched how quickly an earthquake could topple a sturdy structure in mere seconds. The experience was so fun that all of us let out a groan of disappointment when it ended!
After the Innotech Expo experience, I was reminded once again of how far modern technology has come over the years. Yet looking at the unrealistic and glitchy graphics of the VR simulation, the fact that technology still had a lot to improve could not be denied. Perhaps in the future, technology will surpass VR and humans will be able to temporarily transfer their consciousness to an online platform and fully simulate different situations, all while their real body is lying safely at home. Whether or not a dream like that will be realized, is something for our generation to decide in the future.
Charles Kwong (S4CH)
InnoTech Expo is a review of China and Hong Kong’s ancient and modern technology, at the same time, a showcase of the latest scientific research results in Hong Kong. The main focus of the expedition is, of course, introducing the latest development of artificial intelligence, the hot topic in innovative technology. There are a lot of exhibits introducing the concept of Smart City, along with the features and current status of its development. It was really cool seeing how artificial intelligence will affect our daily lives. In the future, we could have devices and furniture installed with facial recognition, the agriculture industry could fully utilise the latest technology to its advantage. We learned that artificial intelligence is getting better and better, by seeing the robots learning how to write poems in the exhibition. It was absolutely marvellous.
Bryan Sung (S4CI)
