New technologies are constantly making life easier for all of us. At the Inno-Design Tech Expo in Hong Kong, our reporter found out how innovation and design work together to set urban lifestyle trends.

Welcome to the future. It’s not only about imagination, but also innovation and design. Like this 3D food printer that brings images of food to life.

“It can make many things like chocolate, cookies, pizza, you name it. For those of you who don’t cook, that will be a kickoff for you because everyone can be a chef with this machine,” Michael Wong, marketing manager of HK Welfare Electronic Component, said.

All you need to do is to bring your design, put it into the printer, choose your favorite ingredient and let the magic begin. The printer does the work for you.

Well, the printing process took about six minutes. After I take this to the oven, I’ll get a cookie of my own style.

Is it safe to eat the printed food?

“It’s very safe. The only part that the ingredient touches is the tube. It’s very easy to clean. As long as you keep the tube clean, then that will be fine,” Wong said.

Priced at around $4,000, the 3D food printer is already on the market and is among the hot items here at the expo.

Another machine — or should I call it a friend — is the family robot for people’s homes.

This personal, teachable robot can patrol around the home and, with easy programming, grow with the family members.

“He has a lot of skills, such as recognizing people’s faces and gestures. He can tell the news of the weather, etc. And he can control smart home appliances. And it can be programmed by voice. We think home robot is the trend of future,” Zhang Zhe, marketing officer of NXROBO, said.

And in our future homes, we’ll be able to monitor the health of any member of the family from anywhere in the world through the cloud. People will also be able to get in touch with doctors and nurses directly.

More innovations are on the way, to make life fun, and, with high-tech and design, make people the master of their own lives.