By SUZAN DELIBASIC,
technology editor 

Australia’s first Technology and Gadget Expo was all about drones, augmented reality and the latest consumer gadgets. 

The long-awaited expo was held in Melbourne last weekend and featured some of Australia’s up-and-coming technologists and innovators. 

Huge crowds flocked around the netted “Drone Zone”, a large space featuring drones with DSLR cameras attached, which were used to show off their different capabilities to the audience. 

Telstra, which was a major sponsor for the expo, showcased their Smart Home platform which included a range of safety and monitoring devices for the digital household of the future. 

One thing was for sure, virtual reality headsets are ready to boom. Hundreds of people lined up to experience a combination of Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear and HTC Vive hardware. 

Recently formed Australian tech companies also impressed the crowd with their latest consumer gadgets and inventions. 

Founder of Dyson Bikes Naomi Dyson said the company's electric bike was changing the way people ride. 

“This bike takes away all the excuses – no more flattened hills, no head-wind and, best of all, no lycra necessary,” Ms Dyson said.  

A 36 volt battery pack can provide 40-60km of riding on the standard e-bike. 

Fun Wheels, which supplies Australia’s largest family parks with BERG pedal go-karts, featured an extensive range of their karts. 

Fun Wheels owner Jessica Garagnati said BERG pedal go-karts were available in two and four-seated karts, and all had been through thorough testing. 

“The quality of our product is something that we truly pride ourselves in,” Ms Garagnati said. 

“There are other pedal go-karts available that holiday parks have tried. They found that they didn’t last as long as the BERG,” she said. 

GPS tracking devices also had the crowd mapped out around their stalls. 

Gator marketing representative Nicole Durham said the company's GPS tracking watch was linked to a monitoring platform that the company created, making it unique to their product. 

“Our GPS tracking watch is essentially for kids, but we have a growing market for the elderly and people suffering dementia as well,” Ms Durham said.

“The watch can be tracked through our monitoring platform which is either through the app or computer. 

“The monitoring platform provides a tracking history, so it’s easy to go back and see where the watch has been over a period of time.

“In the next 12 months we’re moving into retail stores. We’re also bringing out some other tracking devices such as a pet and vehicle tracker.”

SkyNanny founder Jason Petch said personal experience led to the creation of a GPS waterproof device for tracking children. 

Mr Petch said he was kidnapped as a child in 1977. 

“I was only missing for one day but it was certainly a pretty horrific experience,” he said. 

“I lost my daughter for 10 minutes at the beach 5½ years ago and it brought back my own terrifying experience.

“After that happened, I said to my partner that enough was enough. I want to find a GPS tracking device that I can put on my child.

“The last six months have been unreal for us and we’re truly growing as a company. Our business goal is to get the premium model going and to make the device smaller,” he said. 

Augmented reality software company Zappar showed its ability to create a virtual dimension that recognises images and spaces, transforming them into 3D objects. 

Asia Pacific head of sales David Frances said Zapper was built from the ground up by Cambridge graduates. 

“Everything is owned and it’s all proprietary, so it doesn’t rely on a third party,” Mr Frances said. 

“Zappar has traditionally built big campaigns for some of the world's leading entertainment companies including NBC Universal, Sony Pictures and Warner Bros. 

“The tools that we used to build those big commercial campaigns were through our Zap Works platform, which is now available for everyone to use,” he said. 

Mr Frances said  there had been quite a bit of interest from Australia's tertiary education sector, particularly design faculties, architecture and housing.

“The great thing about Zappar is that we’re focused on putting content creation tools into the hands of anyone," he said. 

“It’s about people creating content now because there’s a wave of hardware coming such as magic leap, meta, hollow lens and whatever Apple brings out.

“Ultimately, we want creative minds to tap into this software. It’s our goal to have graffiti walls activated with performance artists who shoot them against green screens.”