Each year, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) rolls into town to give us a peek into the not-so-distant future. At the Las Vegas Convention Center January 6-9, we saw artificial intelligence take center stage, as everything from luxury vehicles and lawn mowers to stuffed animals for autism utilized it. And robots like Boston Dynamics’ creepily agile Atlas made headlines for their advanced athleticism and scope of eerily human abilities (laundry folding, anyone?!). We’re swiftly closing the gap between the now and the future. Here are some of the coolest things we found on the show floor.
Fully Autonomous North Robot by Sharpa
A fully autonomous robot that can square off in a game of ping pong without breaking a circuit or a sweat? Marty Supreme never saw this guy coming. AI robotics company Sharpa unveiled North, its first full-body robot, at this year’s CES. Engineered with more than 1,000 tactile sensors in each fingertip, North has the dexterity to complete even the most complex tasks such as plucking cards out of a deck or crafting paper windmills. It also has real-time vision and can frame shots, and take photos with a camera. I think we just found our new bestie.
Leion Hey2 Translation Glasses by LLVision
Say goodbye to Google Translate. These game-changing glasses support translation for more than 100 languages. You put them on and smart microphones around the frames capture the audio of the speaker. The translation text pops up in your glass lens in real-time, like something straight out of Cyberpunk 2077. The Leion Hey2 concept also features spatial audio with noise cancelling and speech boost, and the glasses only grab sound from where you’re looking. Battery life lasts up to eight hours, the translation happens almost immediately and the glasses have an inconspicuous look to them. No one will ever know you don’t speak fluent Japanese, and Russian, and Mandarin, and Spanish …
Bionic Quadtrack Stair Climber by Dreame
Robot vacuums rule, but they’ve always been limited by stairs—until now. Dreame’s Bionic Quadtrack concept demonstrated a vacuum’s ability to fully climb and descend stairs at this year’s CES. Here’s how it works: A robot vacuum docks itself inside the stair-climbing contraption, becoming one. It then transports the vacuum up the stairs using large treads on its legs. With robot vacuums’ sworn enemy out of the way, there’s no limit to what these suckers can clean.
NEO Smart Bidet by Vovo
Vovo’s NEO bidet, billed as “the world’s smartest toilet,” has all the bells and whistles of a luxury throne. It has heated seats for optimal comfort on cold mornings, automatic lids and soon, it’ll have the Jindo app. The Jindo app smartly monitors activity around the bidet for seniors living alone. It can detect if the toilet has not been used in eight to 10 hours, sending an alert to relative’s phones so they can check on their elders. On the other hand, if the bidet’s been used for far too long (indicating a possible stroke), the Jindo app will notify the family. NEO also features a built-in urine analysis sensor to monitor hydration and early potential health issues. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but this toilet could save lives.
