AWS Summit is not your standard trade show. It is a huge event to celebrate all the aspects of Amazon Web Services and also a monument (albeit temporary) to the success of the AWS division within Amazon.
As a trade event, this was probably one of the top visited events I have been to. Although NRF 2019 was pretty awesome as well.
The sheer number of sponsors that AWS attracts is more evidence of the success of the event in itself. Especially if you consider that sponsors pay to showcase here and that they may simply decline showing elsewhere.
Amazon must have spun up a large team of event organisation specialists and this is simply a very streamlined operation where everyone knows their little role within AWS.
However, this also means that when we asked about "Robo Maker" (https://aws.amazon.com/robomaker/), no one really knew what we were talking about or asking for. A typical answer was "Yes, we make robots" or "ask over there"... with the response from "over there" to ask exactly where I came from.
We finally managed to find one person who worked with Robo Maker, but he had left Amazon... perfect. Not so.
All Amazon people are indoctrinated with the Amazon mantra "Do not talk to press, unless you are authorised to do so. And, even if you are authorised, limit any contact with the press."
We managed to find out that Robo Maker underpins the Robo Racer competition and that competitors run simulations in Robo Maker.
Here's a movie from a Robo Racer competitor...
Apparently, the best algorithm brought the car around the track in less than 10sec's.
Here's a few more images from the event, held at Excel in London on April 27, 2022.
The scene outside the exhibition hall (Key: Orange lanyards = Amazon staff, Black = General visitor, Red = Press... Green = don't know)
Clearpath robot exhibited at 2022 AWS Summit, London UK.
A continuous stream of people walking between the two large areas.
The show was very well visited. We arrived around 11.00 and stayed until 13.00. Apart from lunch (free lunch box provided at the event - thanks AWS!), this was the scene throughout
There was a pretty long queue to the video gaming space... not sure who would go to AWS Summit to do a bit of video gaming? Perhaps AWS should expand this space for 2023?
The robot used in the Robo Racer competition...
All in all, this event is super if you are interested in databases, servers, managing huge amounts of data, ETL/LTE, consulting, etc. or simply wondering what you can get by using AWS.
Link: https://aws.amazon.com/events/summits/