Portable air con, robots and body fat apps hope to woo investors at Hong Kong’s annual start-up fair
Event takes place on Thursday and Friday at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre
An air conditioner the size of a Coca-Cola bottle, a body fat gauge for your mobile phone and a robot controlled only by gestures are among some of the products on show at an annual fair for start-up entrepreneurs in Hong Kong.
The 10th Entrepreneur Day, which will be held on Thursday and Friday at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, will attract more than 240 start-ups this year, according to the organiser, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council.
Running on a rechargeable battery, the hand-held air conditioner can provide about two hours of cooling. It uses patented water evaporation cooling technology and does not contain coolant such as the freon found in conventional air conditioners. It will be priced at around US$100, Kascien Chan, director of Hi Cooler, the manufacturer, said on Wednesday.
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A robot called ME-1 follows gestures from a human instructor who wears a motion controller glove. Users can pilot the human-like android by moving their hands or fingers, similar to the controllers seen in Steven Spielberg’s 2018 movie Ready Player One.
It can be used in crisis management situations and factories with dangerous operations, said Dr Mark Mak, co-founder and chief technology officer of Roborn Dynamics. He estimated the price of the product to be US$20,000.
Another portable device lets you check how much fat is in your body with a mobile application on your phone. The product functions as a four-in-one spectrometer which measures the heat, sound and impedance spectrum of a certain material.