A seeing stroller, headphones with simultaneous translation, a flying electric car – the tech innovations of the year will be presented this week at the CES trade fair in Las Vegas. Almost every product claims to be artificially intelligent.
CES is the world’s largest electronics trade fair and is taking place this week in Las Vegas. Pictured: Participants during the demonstration of an air mobility concept.
Caroline Brehman / EPA
Every year at the beginning of January, America’s entertainment mecca Las Vegas transforms into a global tech hub: companies from all over the world present their latest technical innovations at the world‘s largest electronics trade fair, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). For more than 50 years, CES has been a benchmark for what companies are working on and what amazing, bizarre or cool tech products consumers can expect in the coming months.
With temperatures in the single digits that were unusually low for the desert city, more than 130,000 visitors rushed up and down the Strip this week. The CES is so huge that it is spread over the entire seven kilometer long entertainment mile. And yet it pushes even a trade fair city like Las Vegas to its limits; Traffic routes, hotels and restaurants were sometimes completely overloaded. Not even the general public is allowed. Only industry and media representatives are invited.
From high-resolution screens to flying electric cars to an artificially intelligent cat door – the range of products presented at CES is enormous. This year, around 3,500 exhibitors were in Las Vegas, as the organizer, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), announced. In the mass of technical innovations, a few trends are emerging:
Trend number 1: Artificial intelligence is moving into our homes
Samsung’s “smart” refrigerator shows on a screen on the outside door what is at risk of spoiling inside.
John Locher / AP
“Artificial intelligence” (AI) has been the magic word in the technology scene since the end of 2022, and the CES is now showing how AI is finding its way into hardware. Almost every company is currently trying to integrate the new key technology into their products.
The Korean electronics giant Samsung presented, among other things, an artificially intelligent refrigerator at CES: A camera first detects what food you put in the refrigerator, and a huge screen on the outside door then reminds you what is in the refrigerator and what you are cooking with it could and what threatens to spoil when.
The French startup Baracoda presented a “smart mirror” that asks how the other person is doing every time you pass by. Depending on the answer, the built-in AI will suggest, for example, that you listen to upbeat music or do some meditation, an employee explains in an interview. Over time, the mirror learns from the answers and becomes an increasingly better conversation partner. The organizers of the CES awarded the product an innovation prize; the smart mirror should cost between 500 and 1000 dollars.
AI is also intended to make childcare safer: The Canadian company Glüxkind presented an artificially intelligent stroller at the CES in which cameras constantly analyze the surroundings and can brake independently in an emergency. The stroller also shakes the child to sleep and can roll independently.
Thanks to AI, new headphones from Mymanu bring not only music to users’ ears, but also translations: The Clik Pro supports more than 50 languages and also works without an internet connection, the manufacturer claims.
AI researcher Fei-Fei Li from Stanford University (left) speaks at CES about the digital revolution that generative AI has unleashed.
Image: PD
Pillows, toothbrushes and cat doors are also being touted as “artificially intelligent” at CES. Almost every product with an algorithm or automation is now adorned with the buzzword. While “AI” or sometimes “generative AI” is now written almost everywhere on the packaging, it is questionable whether this is really true, complains AI researcher Fei-Fei Li from Stanford University, one of the best-known researchers in the field. At a panel discussion on the sidelines of CES on the topic “What’s next for AI?” said Li: “Generative AI is a completely overloaded term. We at the university have a narrow mathematical definition for this.”
But even if there is currently a lot of hype surrounding the technology, it cannot be denied that AI has reached a turning point. «It is the driving force of a new digital revolution. Public attention and media coverage come and go in waves, but technology is here to stay and will transform all sectors of society. “That’s simply a fact,” said Li with conviction.
Trend number 2: Virtual reality glasses should finally bring us the metaverse – also for industry
For years, small and large electronics companies have been trying to usher in the era of virtual, augmented or mixed reality – digital parallel worlds to varying degrees. This technology could actually reach the mass market in 2024, when Apple brings its Vision Pro headset into stores in a few weeks (sales in the USA from February 2nd).
In the run-up to this product launch, numerous companies are now trying to promote their own virtual reality glasses at CES; For example, the Chinese company Xreal, whose glasses – similar to the new Apple headset – can serve as an extended screen for computers and cell phones. With prices ranging from $350 to $700, the glasses are significantly cheaper than Apple’s $3,500 headset, an Xreal employee said in an interview.
Siemens CEO Roland Busch presented a collaboration with Sony during his keynote speech at CES and invoked the age of the “industrial metaverse”.
Steve Marcus / Reuters
2024 is likely to herald a change in the area of virtual worlds not only for consumers, but also for companies: At the CES, the Siemens Group presented a cooperation with the electronics company Sony, in the course of which it is launching a new headset for industry brings. The age of the “industrial metaverse” has come, said Siemens CEO Roland Busch during his keynote speech on Monday evening: In the future, companies will firstly be able to develop products more quickly using such headsets. Secondly, they should also create a digital twin of these products in the virtual metaverse, thereby saving costs in manufacturing and avoiding errors in reality.
Trend number 3: Technology should help solve our health problems
CES is traditionally a consumer electronics trade show, but the question of how technology can help with health problems is increasingly coming into focus. This week, numerous companies are introducing products that are intended to improve sleep or diagnose bladder infections. The eyewear giant Essilor Luxottica, whose brand portfolio includes Rayban and Oakley, is presenting a new range of products that have hearing aids built into the temples of the glasses. These are intended to “offer people with mild hearing problems a stylish solution,” it says.
The Beamo from Withings is aimed at telemedicine and is a thermometer, stethoscope, echocardiogram and pulse oximeter in one.
Caroline Brehman / EPA
The Withings company, in turn, has released a measuring device that is intended to improve telemedical visits: The Beamo is a thermometer, stethoscope, echocardiogram and pulse oximeter in one. This is aimed primarily at parents of small children and carers of older people who need quick medical advice with virtual consultations, it is said. Apparently the recent pandemic was also kept in mind when developing the product. “Can you imagine the demand when the next pandemic comes?” says the press spokesman in an interview. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has already approved Withings’ echocardiogram, and the Beamo is scheduled to hit the US market in June and cost $250.
Trend number 4: Robots are shaking up our lives – and our pets
Robots belong to CES like casinos to Las Vegas; in previous years, the first vacuum cleaner robots and robot suitcases made headlines.
This year, too, various robots were an eye-catcher at the electronics trade fair – such as the dog sitter from Ogmen Robotics. The waist-high robot called Oro has wheels for feet and a tablet computer for a face. Not only does it feed the four-legged friend and enable video calls with the owner, but – thanks to AI – it also analyzes the dog’s state of mind.
The robot from Ogmen evaluates the well-being of the four-legged friend.
Caroline Brehman / EPA
The American startup Shift’s Moonwalkers robot shoes are aimed less at pet owners than at corporate customers. You strap this type of roller skates under your own shoes, then the built-in AI gets to know your gait and ultimately accelerates you up to 11 kilometers per hour, about three times as fast as your normal walking pace. The company targets the approximately 6 million employees who work in warehouses and distribution centers in the United States alone, according to Shift. The Swedish furniture store Ikea is testing the shoes in a warehouse, says chief engineer Joseph Yang.
The supermarket chain Walmart also announced at CES that drones would play a larger role in the group’s logistics chain starting this year: 1.8 million customers in the Dallas-Fort Worth region will be the first to be able to have their products delivered via drone. Experts assume that drones will become more important not only at Walmart, but also in logistics in the USA from this year onwards, after the aviation authority FAA lowered the regulatory hurdles last autumn.