Page 15 - Forbes - India (January 2020)

The Show-Stealers
‘Neons Will Be Unique To You’

Q What was the idea
behind creating neons?
My professional pursuit has been
about making machines more human.
I wanted to make technology more mercedes-Benz vision Avtr
like us, so that we don’t have to Inspired by and developed in collaboration with
the team behind James Cameron’s Avatar, the
worry whether people can read and slick concept vehicle melds the interior with the
write. Rather than us learning the exterior for a reptile-like silhouette. It can move
sideways and is powered by ‘organic’ battery,
language of machines, can they learn minimising energy consumption with its 33
our language? That’s how it started. multi-directional ‘bionic flaps’.
What we’re doing is unlike what Siri INTEL CorPorATIoN intel’s
and Alexa do. Our goal is not to have horseshoe
Pranav Mistry, president and CEO of Bend
Samsung Star Labs something that can answer questions We saw a range of
for you. We want to give you foldable laptops and
is it possiBle to hAve A fully technology that is humane to talk to. tablets, including
variants from Dell
virtual, computationally and Lenovo, but
created being that looks and Q how are neons different from an Intel’s Horseshoe
behaves like us? That’s what Pranav artificial intelligence assistant? Bend made the
trend bigger. Based
Mistry, president and CEO of Neons are not connected to the on Intel’s Tiger Lake mobile processors, the
design is similar in size to a 12-inch laptop, but
Samsung Star Labs, is working to internet... they can learn. Your devices the folding touchscreen display opens up to more
build. One of the most awaited demos need passwords and two-factor than 17 inches.
at the CES, the Neon.Life involves authentication. But Neons have the
human-like digital avatars who look, ability to recognise you and remember lg’s herB fridge 15
A fridge with a farm?
speak and move like people, respond your interactions, just as a friend We’ll take that. LG’s
in real time, have millions of human would. Each Neon has a different new refrigerator can
grow herbs within
expressions and are built to have their personality, and character traits that its shelves, self-
own personalities and original will evolve over the years. Neons will sustained and with CourTEsY: LG
smart controls for
thoughts. A digital species of sorts. have their own voices and be unique temperature, lighting
At the CES, Mistry, a computer to you. and water supply.
scientist and inventor who grew up in Welt smArt
Palanpur, Gujarat, introduced a few Q Will this impact jobs? Belt pro
kinds of Neon: A yoga instructor, a The impact won’t be on cutting Made with premium
Italian leather, the belt
flight attendant, a student. He spoke jobs, but on widening the reach of can detect changes in
with Forbes India on the sidelines of technology. your waist size, track
your steps and calories
the event. Edited excerpts: (Full interview on www.forbesindia.com) burnt, log how much
time you’ve spent
sitting in a day, and
Vision S: Entertainment On The Go especially for senior citizens, pre-empt a fall by
analysing walking patterns.

sony, trAditionAlly knoWn sensing technologies, as well
for its home electronics, as on-board software regulated GETTY IMAGEs
announced that it has been using its artificial intelligence,
working on a concept car called telecommunication and cloud
Vision S that combines safety, comfort technologies.
and entertainment. “The future of Thirty-three sensors are embedded
mobility will not be dominated just by within the vehicle, to detect and impossiBle pork
safety and autonomous driving, but recognise people and objects both starting with a plant-based doppelganger of
also by entertainment,” Sony CEO inside and outside the car. If the car ground beef, Impossible Foods Inc surprised the
CEs with plant-based pork. Taking on climate
Kenichiro Yoshida said at the CES. detects that a passenger is asleep in change perpetrated by meat and a ‘meltdown in
The Vision-S prototype the back, it will automatically adjust biodiversity’, the lab-grown ‘pork’ comes made up
incorporates Sony’s imaging and the temperature. of soy, sunflower and coconut oil, and tastes like
the real thing.

january 31, 2020 • forbes india