It's a show where innovation flexes its muscles. Everything that will soon reach the market is first unveiled here, and when the show celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, 600 startups and more than 175,000 industry professionals including 55,000 from outside the US) joined to raise a toast. Here are some of the highlights from the mega electronics event.
Amazon Alexa: Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa was the surprise star of the show, with dozens of new products and services integrating the voice-accessed machine smarts into appliances, TVs, speakers, lamps, cars and more. Analysts said the gains for Alexa could help unify a fragmented market for connected devices, and bring artificial intelligence to more people, from young to old.
Professor Einstein: Robots showed off new skills and “personality.” Hanson Robotics unveiled its life-like “Professor Einstein,” which has realistic facial expressions and can engage in informative conversations such as lessons in maths and science. Other robots acquired intelligence from the internet cloud, giving them the ability to chat ‘person-style’ and tend to monitoring homes or other tasks.
Faraday Future: The electric car startup Faraday Future, backed by a Chinese billionaire, showed its first production car, FF91, aimed at taking on Tesla. The company demonstrated how fast it can accelerate — getting to 60 mph (100 kph) in 2.39 secs — and began taking pre-orders for 2018. The other major car-makers were not idling, instead showcasing moves towards autonomous driving, electric power, and better connections, including integrating with smart home systems.
Wall Paper Thin Screen: LG Electronics showed off a “wallpaper” thin TV, while rivals Sony and Samsung unveiled technology for more realistic displays. A push was on to entice people with 4K ultra-rich screens. Sales of televisions globally have been slipping, possibly a result of viewers turning to smartphones, tablets, and computers for video, according to the US Consumer Technology Association trade group behind CES. Those who do buy televisions, however, are expected to prefer HD models.
Virtual reality: While not appearing ready for prime time, virtual reality still sought its place at the show. Show floor space devoted to virtual reality abounded with companies diving into the market with headsets, content, or tools for creating or delivering immersive experiences. Taiwan-based HTC announced initiatives aimed at getting developers to create more VR experiences and unveiled plans for arcades in public venues – so more people could give it a try. Vive is up against PlayStation VR and Facebook-owned Oculus Rift. Each company has been wooing software developers and refining its hardware to better entice users.
Telecom: CES featured a surprising number of smartphone launches, including one from Taiwan’s Asus that can use Google’s Project Tango 3D technology and virtual and augmented reality. This came as the industry prepared to mark the 10th anniversary of the launch of the iPhone on January 9. New mid-range handsets were unveiled by South Korea’s LG, China’s ZTE and Huawei, which also revealed their ambition for a greater share of the US market by launching flagship large-screen handsets.
Gadgets for handicapped: Emerging Technologies for fitness, health and improving life for the handicapped flourished, including those harnessing brainwaves for the physically disabled; helping the visually impaired with “artificial vision”, and getting insightful data on sports endeavours. BrainRobotics, a Massachusetts-based startup, showed its prosthesis that can be controlled by the residual muscle strength of an amputee with better efficiency than similar devices. It may eventually be controlled by brainwaves.
Hoverboards make a comeback
Hoverboards are aiming for a comeback after a series of debacles and recalls for the quirky wheeled personal transport devices. A handful of new self-balancing skateboard-like gadgets made their appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week. These personal transport gizmos made a splash at the show two years ago and were hot holiday items in 2015 before a series of battery fires and injuries prompted bans in the US and elsewhere. Last year, US marshals seized several lots of hoverboards before the show over concerns about unsafe batteries which could explode.
But Hoverboard Technologies founder Robert Bigler, unfazed by the controversy, on last Friday unveiled his single-wheeled GeoBlade, proclaiming it to be the future of personal urban mobility. “It’s so much like surfing on land,” he said. “It’s going to be like a bicycle.”
He said the single-wheeled board is harder to master but offers advantages to those using two wheels, because it has a narrower stance and allows the rider to navigate more easily. It will have a range of about 16 km and a maximum speed of 25 km per hour.
Other similar devices were also on display at CES, including a new “off-road” hoverboard from California-based Swagtron, formerly Swagway.
Swagtron vice-president Robert Reeves said the T6 board is aimed at the adventure-minded. “You can ride it on the sand, on the grass. It has air in the tyres so you have more stability,” he said. The T6, which has a range of about 20 hours and a top speed of 12 miles (20 km) per hour, will be sold for around $500 in the US market.
It joins a lineup of smaller hoverboards from Swagtron, which is also planning to release a single-wheeled board and another which looks like a skateboard and has two small wheels. One-wheeled boards were unveiled by FutureMotion and Segway, the inventor of one of the first personal transporters, and which is now owned by China’s Ninebot, part of electronics group Xiaomi. Segway also sells a two-wheeled board with a steering column that allows users to direct it with their knees. Segway’s Gerry White said sales of these transporters — which he says are not hoverboards — have remained strong despite the woes of other brands.