The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is a must-see every year for tech fans. The event always surprises guests with new products they didn’t know they needed. And these cutting-edge inventions aren’t just about making cell phones and other gadgets smarter. The future ideas shown cover all aspects of life and how to make them easier. The MWC even showed off “smart hives” for farmers in 2019.
Here are some interesting exhibits found so far at the MWC 2024, which runs until Thursday, February 29, and looks like it will stay in Barcelona every year.
What’s New at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona 2024?
Xiaomi SU7 Electric Car
Xiaomi, which is known as the “Chinese Apple,” wants to become the “Chinese Tesla” with its cool SU7. Of course, it’s electric, and the battery will last for 800 km (500 miles) when fully charged, which only takes 20 minutes. A quarter charge, which takes five minutes, is enough for most daily tasks and medium-length trips.
The Xiaomi SU7 can go from 0 to 100 km/h (62 miles/h) in 2.78 seconds and can hit a top speed of 265 km/h (166 miles/h). However, you probably shouldn’t do that on Spanish roads, where the speed limit on motorways is 120 km/h (75 miles/h).
Related: How to Get Up to €7,000 to Buy an Electric or Hybrid Car in Spain in 2023
Orbic eBike 5G
Orbic, a company that makes sustainable electronics devices, has shown off a bicycle that can detect things and runs on clean energy. This bike is meant to reduce accidents and rider falls. The eBike 5G has an AI sensor with a 148-degree field of view and can go as fast as 45 km/h (28 mph), which is about the speed of a small moped. This makes it perfect for short daily travels.
The eBike 5G constantly checks its surroundings and sends you safety alerts and warnings if you get too close to physical objects. It has a 64-megapixel dashcam, an 8-megapixel camera for video calls, and a 2-megapixel camera at the back to improve safety and see when a car is coming up behind you.
The bike can be used as a WiFi hotspot, so when you stop to rest along the way, you can check your messages.
Samsung Health-Powered Sleep-Monitoring Ring
Most of the time, tracking your sleep habits at home means putting on a smartwatch before bed, which can be annoying for people who are sensitive to touch or have sensory overload. Samsung has the answer: a three-gram ring that has the Samsung Health app installed on it.
It tracks your blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation, breathing rhythm, nocturnal movements, and the depth and quality of your sleep. You hardly notice you’re wearing it, but you get all the information you would get from a good watch.
It can be used with other apps, like Natural Cycles, to keep track of your period and ovulation times. It comes in silver, gold, or black, and it looks like a normal piece of jewelry—a very classy one, too.
A Husqvarna Lawnmower that Plays Retro Video Games
Who said it was difficult to cut the grass? That makes it almost like a competition when you add some games to it. And to honor the famous game Doom, Husqvarna, a Swedish company that makes garden technology, has built this old game into its newest lawnmower.
In the next few years, people will be able to cut the grass while playing Doom. This is because Husqvarna plans to put game technology into 30,000 of its mowers starting in April. The normal lawn-cutting functions are used to move your character around and shoot enemies.
Wrapping Up
But just a few have already been used by Spanish companies, and they’ve shown that the opposite is true: robots can do boring tasks, leaving people to work on the more interesting parts of their jobs.
Two years ago, it was said that a bar and restaurant in the town of Jávea in the province of Alicante’s northern region had hired an “android waiter” to meet customers, show them the menu, take orders, and bring food to them.
The owners didn’t have to lay off anyone, and they could even hire more real waiters. The humans could now talk to customers, interact with them, describe the food, and talk about local culinary traditions.
They could give customers that extra attention that is hard to give in a place where table staff are always running around clearing up dishes, taking notes on what people want, and getting food and drinks to people quickly.
