AI, IoT and other jaw-dropping technologies at SXSW Interactive 2016

South by Southwest Interactive Festival was not just for students and nerds; it was for everyone. The annual tech festival was all about technology fans veteran and young coming together in one place to celebrate innovation, and eventually, to become one of the innovators.

Indeed, this pretty summed up the latest five-day tech event: attendees clamouring over updates on existing technologies concerning apps and social media, as well as latest news on upcoming advances like emotive robotics and 5G.

It was a perfect time and place for the likes of Samsung and Sony to showcase newest updates on their flagship products. Mobile phone booths and stages were everywhere, but what served as the heart of the event was virtual reality. In the past few years, the technology had enjoyed a fair amount of exposure since only a few companies — among them was Google — were confident of showing their trial-stage technology. Now, almost every brand, even McDonald’s, dabbled at it.

Virtual reality blast

Walking about the hallways of Austin Convention Center would not spare visitors of various virtual reality installations. Budweiser would asked people to wear a VR headgear to experience its flagship brewery St. Louis, TV stations doing the same for attendees to witness their new programs, and so many other brands abandoning the traditional booth host and entrusting everything to this technology so that people could witness their products and services’ grandeur all by themselves while comfortably ensconced on a upholstered chair.

“With most of the things you see about VR it’s around games and having fun. We’re taking that experience into the business where, to a degree you’re having fun at work, but you’re still doing work," Ty Miller, SAP’s Vice President of Product Management, later told local KXAN news.

Other prediction for VR is that brands would use it in the near future for lead generation, promotion and marketing. Everyone will capitalise on it as a newer, better and more interactive way of telling a story, which every brand needs anyway to get attention or establish reputation.

Robots and artificial intelligence

Segueing along the lines of next-generation technologies are artificial intelligence (AI), robotics. Just like the previous year, folks from MIT lead the AI-robotics segment. Social roboticists Cynthia Breazeal showcased her new-and-improved Jibo, a Honda robot-looking machine (bereft of arms and legs) that can interact with humans. There were many others, all promised to emulate what humans could do, from answering basic questions and doing menial.

The ubiquity of robots at the show was rather eerie and at the same time jaw-dropping, as it placed humanity somewhat nearer to the settings only encountered in films. The likes of Siri or any voice recognition-powered answering robots, as well as drones, would soon have their own body in the guise of Uber drivers, caregivers and pets.

5G and the Internet of Things

While VR and AI impressed many, the closest thing to realisation in the near future was the mention of 5G, a permeating theme at the event. Every mobile company talked about their partnerships with various companies and governments to finally figure if 5G could really be commercialised by 2020, the target year for its initial utilisation. Companies like 5B ARz International (OTCQB: BARZ) also surfaced, the initial success of which in India catapulted it to further expansions to Southeast Asia and South America. The company, which offers wireless, easy-to-install network extender device, promises to improve one’s mobile signals anywhere in the world, be it in a moving vehicle or an enclosed space.

Mobile and telco brands’ 2020 5G plans would soon give way to Internet of Things (IoT), which is basically about every gadget being interconnected with each other and with the cloud. Among the crowd-pleasers was Sony’s N Wearable, a hands-free headphone reminiscent of LG’s Tone Infinim Wireless headband . The commercialisation of this product would eventually take us closer to what Joaquin Phoenix was wearing in the 2013 film “Her,” which was an almost-invisible headphones that lets users interact via mobile without even pressing any buttons or tapping a screen whatsoever.

Hence, the SXSW Interactive Festival remained faithful to its promises: It gave attendees a glimpse of what could be expected of the near future, what technologies people would be using in a year or two, and what could be improved in what are currently being used today. But its greatest achievement perhaps is that it didn’t fail to inspire future innovators and aspiring entrepreneurs.