by Rin Yeo
Do you fancy having a chat with the Merlion? Or have your own car but with no need for a driving license and being able to get to where you want to go without the hassle of bothering someone else? Well with the advancement in technologies these days, all these fantasies could soon become a reality!
Talk to inanimate objects:
Starting with the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) Festival of Tech, the first art-meets-technology event, organised in celebration of SG50, allows the public to converse with furnitures in public domains such as payphones, lampposts and even the Merlion through text messaging. Ask any question you would like to ask between 10 October – 18 October from any landmarks or objects around the city areas, and watch what they reply you with!
Hop on a driverless shuttle:
The third after the driverless taxi concept from A*Star’s Institute for Infocomm Research and Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology as well as Nanyang Technological University’s own driverless cart, the driverless shuttle will be made available to all vistors to Gardens by the Bay come December. Each of these can accommodate up to 10 people and are wheelchair-accessible friendly too. Singapore will also mark the Asian debut of this driverless shuttle, as the trials were previously held in Switzerland only.
Drone postman
For those living offshore, gone may be the days of having to wait long hours for your posts to arrive from the mainland, as SingPost recently trialled a drone mail delivery service. With a capacity to carry a payload of up to half a kilogram and having an app to ensure that postage is delivered to the correct recipient, the drone delivery system may be a easier and time-efficient method for delivery in the future.
