The first ever community DIY tech exhibition in the region

Softbank Robotics’ Pepper was a star at Show & Tech

The Assembly has been showcasing projects to the community through events and workshops for over three years now. In the past we have been a part of the worldwide celebration of Arduino Day. This year around the time it was supposed to happen, we realized that it, well, wasn’t. So we decided we should conduct our own version of the event – and that’s how Show & Tech came to be.

Once we had decided to host the event, we had to plan everything from participants, to showcases, judging, prizes, visitors and everything in between! Our team toiled through the month of April, all whilst prepping our presence at multiple other events – read: TiEcon Dubai 2018 and Arabnet – where we headlined the innovation showcase for both events.

We reached out to the universities and they pulled out all the stops sending in entries and their best projects to be showcased at the exhibit. We saw student teams representing Manipal University Dubai, BITS Pilani Dubai, Heriot Watt University Dubai, American University of Sharjah, American University in Dubai, and Middlesex University Dubai. A special mention must be made here for the high school team from New Academy School, that showcased their rendition of a Smart and Sustainable Future City.

Some of the projects were inspired; and all the projects presented were well executed – without exception. The showcase consisted of solutions that demonstrated the use of simple sensors and motors, to smart homes, to a conceptual Future City, using Blockchain, Robotics, and even Augmented Reality & AI. The amount of effort that went into conceptualizing, designing, and making these projects was evident from the quality of products that were present – and the students a keen intention to learn from the mentors and judges walking around.

Yes, we had judges – because it was a competition. Three winners were picked:

· First Prize: Assisted Living For All – interface to allow easy computer interaction for disabled by Mohammad Mushtaq

· Second Prize: Iris – Smart glasses platform to assist dementia patients by Fares Bou Najm and Mustafa El Sayed from American University in Dubai

· Third Prize: Autonomous plant irrigation & monitoring system by Juzar Gulamali, Afreen Aarza, Zoha Arif Ansari, Ameena Sulaiman from BITS Pilani, Dubai

The Assembly team posing with the winners of the Show & Tech winners

A special prize was given to the youngest team present at the event. The group of students representing New Academy School comprising Abbas Sayed, Mohammad Faieq, Mohammad Atef showcased their rendition of a Smart and Sustainable Future City.

We also invited an old friend of The Assembly, Sheban Naim to share his story of how he became a maker and a tech entrepreneur. Sheban is an IT guy, who moved to aerial photography and unmanned aerial vehicle tech as his day job. Through this shift, he got introduced to the art of DIY prototyping through 3D printing, and the rest is history. Now he is in the process of building his own little flying project made entirely in house (except for the electronics bits, of course) and hopes to see it in the air soon.

We have already started work on a slew of similar events to be hosted in the near future. Watch this space, or write to us on showandtech@theassembly.ae for any feedback or suggestions you may have.

See the gallery of photos here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1872256896131883.1073741902.882233465134236&type=1&l=fac35f1bcd

Watch the Video of our wrap up here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0x_WtxSuHo