British Inventor of the Year Graeme Menday has shared his thoughts the products in the Future Tech Zone. The first – AlphaBlue – is a product he designed himself: a groundbreaking solution that helps parents control their children’s mobile phone usage.

• AlphaBlue – global launch at Gadget Show Live; price £2.99 per month

AlphaBlue is a ground breaking online solution that allows parents to control and manage when their child has access to their mobile phone by restricting access timed periods and functionalities, such as incoming and outgoing calls, texts and social media, through a web portal while still allowing access to default educational tools such as calculator and calendar.

• The NAO Robot – £10,000-£12,000 but currently unavailable for private purchase  

Aldebaran Robotics’ NAO is the most widely used humanoid robot for academic purposes worldwide. NAO’s many sensors and actuators, convenient size, and attractive appearance, combined with sophisticated embedded software, makes it a unique humanoid robot ideal for many research fields. NAO boasts, for example, face and object recognition, automatic speech recognition, text-to-speech in seven languages, and whole body motion.

Graeme Menday:“This will be a great product for your kids when it goes on general sale and if you can afford the price tag. Robots such as the NAO are going to be in great demand in the future, playing important roles in our lives.”

• CUER solar powered car –priceless
  Cambridge University Eco Racing (CUER) is a 60 strong student organisation that designs, builds and races solar powered vehicles. Founded in 2007 – they are now the UK’s number one solar vehicle developer.

They will be exhibiting their latest vehicle, which they are looking to race in the World Solar Challenge in Australia later this year – and win of course.  

Graeme Menday:“With our energy resources depleting quickly, renewable energy such as solar power will be in great demand. This is a great way to “Showcase” the on-going research into this area.” 

• The Sphericam – £1000
  The Sphericam allows you to photograph or record 360 degree images. It’s a fully automatic device containing four synchronized video camera and is amazingly sensitive to low light – it can even shoot on a dark street.

Graeme Menday:“This product has great future potential in various industries, especially when miniaturised.

• The Tinké – UK launch at Gadget Show Live; £99.95
  The Tinké is an iPhone accessory that allows you to check key health and fitness measurements within seconds – for example, heart rate, respiratory rate, blood/oxygen levels.

Greame Menday:“This is such a great product and will benefit thousands people worldwide wanting to monitor their health or fitness levels. With the possible addition of measuring insulin levels and an interface into your personal health records with your Doctor that triggered automatic alerts with symptoms.” 

• The Good Night Lamp – made in Britain; UK launch; £89
  The Good Night Lamp is a family of interconnected house-shaped lamps that lets you communicate remotely to tell your loved ones you are home. You keep the big lamp and send the little ones to anyone in the world. When you turn your big lamp on, the little ones come on, too.

Greame Menday: “A nice product to have if you are concerned about loved ones.”

• The Jetovator – UK launch at Gadget Show Live; price TBC
  The Jetovator is a revolutionary new water sports accessory that uses your existing jet ski to elevate you to heights you never thought possible.  Combining the sleek body of a racing motorcycle with the aerial capabilities of a fighter aircraft, the Jetovator allows the rider to experience the thrill of flying with the ease of riding a bike.

Graeme Menday:“I so want a Jetovator; this has got to be the ultimate boy’s toy for hours of fun messing around on the water with your mates.”

• The Subwing – £320
  The Subwing is a new watersport that entirely reinvents the way we enjoy the ocean and allows you to experience flying but underwater. Users will feel the sensation of underwater flight with virtually full freedom of movement and glide through the water or just relax on the surface.

Graeme Menday:“This is the closest you will get to swimming like a dolphin!  I can’t wait to try this out.”

• GT86 Conversion Car –priceless
  The GT86 conversion car has an ammonia fuel system, meaning it is a pure zero emissions car and with custom body work it also looks very, very cool. 

Graeme Menday: “This is a great looking car that not only helps to save the environment, but pounds in your pocket.”

• Holoxica – Edinburgh-based company; price TBC
  Holoxica is a high tech startup working on 3D holograms and holographic displays for people who work in 3D to showcase their work in 3D.

Graeme Menday:“The advances in technology with holograms is amazing, especially the video of Snoop Dog appearing live on stage last year with 2Pac. It won’t be long before they are projecting out of mobile phones as a user interface (UI).” 

Gadget Show Live marketing manager Sally Bent commented: “The products in this year’s Future Tech Zone are phenomenally exciting; their potential to change the way we live, work, connect with each other and care for the environment is nothing short of inspirational. I defy anyone to leave the Future Tech Zone with their mouth still shut.”

Based on the popular Channel Five programme, Gadget Show Live is the leading consumer tech event in the UK showcasing gadgets that have never been seen before in the UK. It takes place from 3-7 April at the NEC in Birmingham. 

Tickets for Saturday 7 April and VIP packages are now sold out. Tickets are available to buy for all other days from www.gadgetshowlive.net/birmingham

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