Taking in the Experience at the Intel Developer Forum

IDF focused on the end user experience—from immersive gaming to devices to robots—and the tools developers can use to provide and enhance those experiences.

Throughout the event, Krzanich could be seen walking around the Moscone Center, talking with attendees, checking out the displays and taking in the show.

Relay, a robot developed by Savioke, uses Intel’s RealSense technology to navigate through crowded environments like hotels or—in this case—the floors of the Moscone Center.

iRobot’s Ava 500 video collaboration robot also is integrated with the RealSense technology.

Using five cameras, a 3D image of a person can be uploaded and pulled together into a computer …

… and then inserted into a video game that is displayed on the big screen. The person can then stand in front of the screen and—using gestures—move their image within the game.

In another demonstration at the show, a 3D image of a person’s head is caught by a tablet, and the image is sent into the computer at left. The system on the right uses that image …

… to create 3D etchings of the person’s head within the glass.

Krzanich and other Intel executives spoke about the rich visuals and interactive applications that can be created through the company’s Iris Pro Graphics technology.

Intel invested in smart eyewear maker Recon in 2013, and two months ago bought the company. Recon’s wares were on display at IDF.

Recon set up this virtual bike display …

… so riders could try out these Recon Jet glasses, which include built-in GPS and motion-tracking capabilities and can track such data as distance, duration and pace.

Attendees could put on these virtual-reality headsets from Occulus VR to virtually design their infrastructure systems.

Intel put on display the broad range of computing devices its chips, including its Quark and Atom systems-on-a-chip (SoCs), can drive, including the Intel Compute Stick.

The chip maker also showed off the different mini-PCs that are powered by its processors.

The collection of Intel-powered robot spiders—”spiderbots”—were a huge hit at IDF. Operators can use wrist devices to control the movements of the spiders through gestures.

BotBashParty brought is Bot Bash robots to IDF. The company’s business is bringing the robots to parties and letting people battle with them in a portable arena. A BotBashParty representative says the company is considering using an Intel Edison IoT platform to control the arena.

BMX bikes were outfitted with Curie-based sensors and let loose in the Moscone Center. The sensors tracked the motions of the bikes, creating a real-time picture of the bikes on the move.

Though much of the focus of IDF was on smaller systems and devices, there were still some data center infrastructure offerings on display, including a cabinet from Lenovo that included System x3650 M5 servers.

The social networking giant is among the hyperscale giants that make much of their own data center products, and had some of those systems on display at IDF.

The virtualization pioneer showed off a 64-node all-flash array featuring Intel’s solid-state drives for NVM Express.