A couple of robots, the use of artificial intelligence, augmented reality and attention to personal health: perfectly reflect our forecasts about how it will be the 2023 edition of the Consumer Electronic Show (here all the news)the 5 products that most impressed us during the CES Unveiled evening.
The event in Las Vegas, which this year is fully present again, opens to the public from 5 to 8 January, but on the days of the 3rd and 4th some presentations reserved for the press and sector operators are held. The most important is precisely the CES Unveiledwhere just over 150 exhibitors (out of a total of 2400) have the opportunity to show their products in preview.
Las Vegas
The charge of the 51 Italian startups at CES 2023
by Emanuele Capone
Acwa Pathfinder
The first is a robot, even if it doesn’t have arms and legs like we humans are usually used to imagining robots: it’s a 20-30 cm long device, equipped with joints and sensors, which travels in water pipes and is able to locate any leaks and report them. Which is an intelligent solution to a worrying problem: in Italy alone, every day more than 40% of the water that passes through the water network is lost due to infrastructural defects (Istat data). The company that manufactures the Pathfinder, which this year ha vinto 3 CES Innovation Awardsis called Acwa, comes from Corsica, opened an office in Provence and began experimenting in Bastia, then in other areas of France and in the United Kingdom: “We are in contact with some Italian cities that are part of the Water Alliance, such as Rome and Milan – they explained to us – and soon we should start working with them too”. We really hope soon, because “monitoring pipes with current methods is very expensive, around 200,000 euros per kilometre”.
Yukai Amagami Ham Ham
The second robot that has attracted our attention has perhaps more futile but no less interesting purposes: looks like a teddy bear, produces it (better: it will produce it) the Japanese Yukai and is called Amagami Ham Ham. In Japanese, the first word means to gnaw, which is what this little robot does: it sucks its thumb. For children or even for adults. Especially to adults: “Recreate those sensations we felt as children when we sucked our fingers”, its creators explained to us. Which are also quite well known for another robot, which is called Bocco Emo and does a similar but more practical thing: through an external sensor, it can detect oxygenation and blood pressure levels. Bocco is not for sale in the West but can be bought in Japan (it costs around 40,000 yen, just under 300 euros), while Amagami is the focus of a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo.
Conneqt Pulse
Definitely less puccioso than Bocco, the Australian Conneqt’s Pulse is perhaps more useful and goes into the mainstream direction also traveled by some Italian startups, such as the Genoese D-Heart: it is a device for measuring pressure but more advanced than those we are used to, with the possibility of detecting up to 8 parameters, storing them on the smartphone and obviously sharing them with the doctor. From the company they told us that “we are in the fourth generation, that is pending FDA approval in the United States, while the previous ones were on sale in 64 countries, including some in Europe”.
Govee AI Gaming Sync Box
As for artificial intelligence, we found it where we didn’t expect it, i.e. in the TV box of the Chinese Govee, which produces smart lights and can somehow be considered a cheaper rival of the Italian Twinkly: “It connects to the TV via the HDMI socket and controls the associated LEDs to create a luminous frame around the screen”. The novelty is that “it uses an AI algorithm to understand what is shown: if in a video game the character dies, if you get to the game over screen or, on the contrary, you get a significant result, the lights will reflect that event”. The device si chiama AI Gaming Sync Box and it’s not yet on sale (it will be on sale from March, at around $300) but the company has many other products in its range, such as multicolor panels or strip lights that start at around 20-30 euros.
Scenarios
The 2023 of technology: smartphones, TVs, appliances and gadgets that we will use (or not)
by Bruno Ruffilli
Woongjin ARpedia
The last quote in this brief review has to do with the augmented reality and with the game, especially that of the little ones, aged 4 and up. The company is South Korean, it has also been active in the publishing field since the 1980s and in 2020 it decided to combine technology with its experience with illustrated books for children: the project was born ARpedia, awarded with 3 CES Innovation Awards, which allows pages to somehow come to life on a tablet screen. “Our kit for 4-7 year olds costs 150 dollars, includes 5 books, a camera (in the shape of a giraffe, ed) to be mounted on the long side of the tablet (iOS or Android) and the markers to make what is framed”. What actions? “If you use the hair dryer on the pictures of the little girl disheveled, the hair will move on the screen in the direction from which the air comes – they explained to us – If you use them scissors, you can cut those of the character involved. Or you can color with a pencil and see the result on the display”. Which is a bit like what we did as children, but in version 2.0. Indeed, in the AR version.