Defence Exhibition At MBS

I saw an ad for some Defence Exhibition at MBS on FB and thought Ace will certainly enjoy it. After all, he had a blast at the army exhibition, the SAF50 and the home team festival... SO I told him I will bring him there after school...


Upon arrival, you get this card with questions you have to fill in and a completed card can be used to exchange for some souvenirs.


First stop.. was  a station for you to put on these VR goggles so you can see the various scenerios where the soldiers will train their gun skills...

When I asked Ace to try.. he said he did not want to.... But I told him let's just try since no one queuing... and Heng ah! Cos after we were done, we turned around and realized there is a super long queue...

This tanker has some sort of radar working... on the top right corner, there is a screen... so when you walk closer, you can see your presence detected on the screen..

Walked around somemore to see see look look....

Next, there is this booth where you can simulate yourself controlling some navy ship.... And you can try to scan and bomb the boats that are being perceived as threats...

Needless to say, Ace wanted to give a try lah..

He was so fascinated with the joystick because it can do many many different things...

Then there is a gor gor beside who will explain to you what are the numbers tat you see and how things work...

Airforce representation is made into a movie that you could watch...

There are all the gear that can be attached to the current uniform of an SAF soldier.

Technology is so advanced now.. you just need to go to this machine.. and they will scan your whole body.. and hor, it will tell you the right size for you to wear for your entire uniform!

Then we saw these bags and Ace wanted to carry.... I tot it was just for them to have a feel of how heavy the army backpack is..

But turned out I was wrong...

This is a normal army backpack.. You are supposed to carry it first and have a feel of how much their gear will weigh....

Next, you try on this green one.. which has been redesigned by the army... They added support metal frames in the bag and a belt... and so when you carry it, it will feel much lighter as the weight is redistributed from your shoulders onto your waist and legs...

That is Ace saying that the bag almost feels like it weighs nothing! He asked if he can buy this bag to be used as his schoolbag:) hahahahaha...

He and the gor gor at the station even discussed about how and what he can do to his current school bag so that he can lighten his school bag as well:)

Next stop.. we visited this place that looked like a container... when we stepped in.. we realized it is a hospital...

With enough equipment to conduct surgeries!

This is like a modular unit... that can be placed on ships. It opens itself up into a mini hospital in a mere 4 minutes at the touch of a button. Like a transformer!

Prior to the development of this (it is developed by SAF), it would take many hours and lots of manpower to set the whole thing up.

So I asked about safety and how they ensure cleanliness and a sterile environment for surgeries... so apparently, they have ways to secure the equipment...

Water is sterilized as well..

There is even a HEPA filter to ensure the air is clean...

This is how it looks like..

Next is this counter where they show how they train NS men to deactivate bombs on the runway....

So in times of war, the enemy may drop bombs that may not have been activated.. so we need to clear them on the runway so our planes will not be bombed...

In the past, you had to practice how to deactivate the bomb using wooden blocks and now they use this blue box tat will be activated by light...

So if you connect the long wires correctly and turn this turbo thingy ... the blue box will light up and have a sound which means you did it correctly...

Next station is how they use re-engineered PDA/phones to keep track of stocks. THe phone will allow you to scan your ID and see if you have access to the equipment.. and then it makes the loan of equipment hassle free...

Ace trying out the system for himself...

He was so amused...

At this point, someone suddenly came and asked me, "Are you Max's wife? This is his son, Ace right?" Hahahaha.. turns out that Max's ex colleague from the Navy was there too and he recognized us from the Facebook photos:)

Next station is a machine tat allows the army to do stock take. So all expensive equipment will be given some sticker with a chip. And to stock take.. you just wave this machine about the area where the stocks are.. dun need to manually count one by one!

Ace trying it out..

THis paddle is not to beat your backside.. hahahaha.. it works the same way for you to reach under or into narrow spaces...

Robot hand that was developed in Singapore and to show off the dexterity, there was a video that shows that this hand can grab and egg without breaking it..

Here is more about why they developed this Humanoid Wrist Control System...

Next station, it is this small machine that was also developed here... It is a machine that once you connect to the computer that is down, it will be able to conduct diagnostic test by itself and tell you what is the problem... and it can do so within 15-30 min instead of 1-2 hours if done manually..

Ace trying to use the thermal machine to check his temperature:)

This is a station where there is this really passionate young lady who talked to us about how they developed a system for PSA to track all the ships tat are going in and out and around Singapore. The system will automatically flag anormallies so that our coast guards need not check every single ship that comes in. The lady said that the most difficult part of the project was to convince the various different organizations to be willing to share info:) Hahaa...  Really appreciate all the work that has gone in to help keep Singapore safe;)

This is an advanced emergency system.. which is like a CCTV attached to the fire engine... So when the firefighter are fighting fire, there are people in the background who can see the big picture and help to control the situation....

And since the system is called ACES... of cos must take photo lah:)

There is a segment about geology as well.. we spent a good half an hour there speaking to a geology engineer from ST.

It is so interesting to talk to him and learn about his job. For example, I did not know that before they build MRT, they will need to send geologist and geology engineer into the tunnel to check if the rocks are safe etc... and he actually learnt all he knows now from a MINER.... And he told us in some places... the experts just need to smell the rock and they can tell you whether there is jade, diamonds or gold there!

This is a sample rock core and Ace was so fascinated with it.. he touched it.. looked at it carefully and even smelled it and kept asking why are there shiny bits, why this why that.. Hahahaa.. salute tat uncle so patient and answer all his questions:)

Other rock core samples

I get how this is important now Singapore is developing part of our city underground...

Ace kept asking why there is this grey paint on the rock core.. who knows man... hahaha

Ace said the science centre sent people to his school to do a talk and they talked about this satelite that Singapore has built...

Last part where you draw your dream.. I think recycled item from the The Future Of Us  Exhibition we attended...

Guess which is my dream and which is Ace's dream...

And at the last part, we were supposed to wait for our pictures to be printed.. so Ace said he wanted to revisit parts of the exhibition... so we went back in...

He chose to go to the deactivate bomb thing where this nice uncle explained to him again what it was all about and he tried it again and asked questions about the whole system..

I asked a question.. why must use handle to turn to activate it.. why not use a button to press... and get the job done. Uncle says becos button to press need battery... batteries may run out... so they use this hand crank thing.. dun need batteries... Can you imagine war time and you run out of batteries?

Then Ace made me stand there and wait for him for 20 min while he watched this 20 min video about what to do and how they do things when they handle things related to infectious diseases...

Then we played a game to simulate how you can find out which parts of a building is infected with poisonous gas...

You just carry all these equipment and go in... and it can tell you where and even what sort of gas is inside.. and whether you need to leave immediately cos the gas level too high...

Finally completed the exhibition and our souvenior is an umbrella and a special card with our names printed on it... Ace so excited lor:) hahahaha

Then since still got time, went to MBS to catch pokemon...

And take pics of flowers..

I was excited to take photo of this flower cos i never knew this red flower had white petals... and I did not realized tat a snapshot a lizard!

Ace exclaimed and asked me to take photo again but alas, the lizard was gone...

Went over to OBean for dinner and they only had this small room under the stairs left for a table... and they asked if we minded.. we thought just try lah:) hahaha..

But unfortunately, the food there not so nice now leh.. kind of disappointed...

Then Max suggested that we go to the REd Dot monthly bazaar.... cos his friends are there..

Ace was so excited to see this bottle and suddenly NEED to drink water cos I know he wants to bring this light bulb bottle home...

And I found this awesome desk on display.. can move up and down at the touch of a button.. I like I so going to buy this for our new home!:) hahaha

While his dad chillax with frens, we went around to shop shop and check out the displays and exhibits..

IKea's bike.. that got some award..

Nothing to do.. catch pkemon..only to find the pokemon "making out"... hahaha

Bought my sis her BD present at the Bazaar too.. swee hor.. I come home liao then regret.. should have bought for myself too cos so pretty!:)

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