Bizarre Innovations Unveiled: The Quirkiest Gadgets of CES 2025!

CES As the gadget-laden showcase of CES draws to a conclusion, there is much to look forward to and just as much that leaves us utterly perplexed.

We have previously discussed the most disappointing discoveries in the repairability and sustainability aspects in our worst of CES 2025. Now, we shift our attention to the quirky items that fill the nooks and crannies of the Vegas exhibition floor, making us ponder who decided to allocate an engineering team’s efforts and payroll toward such ventures.

Each year, CES offers an array of eccentricities, and we’ve narrowed it down to these six products.

Let a robot chill your coffee

Exhausted from waiting for your hot drink to cool off? The Japanese startup Yukai Engineering presents the answer: A $25 mug-attached robot that cools it for you.

Please cool my drink for me, adorable robot servant – Click to enlarge

This is not just a fancified small fan: The Nékojita FuFu boasts various algorithmically-differentiated blowing settings designed to replicate the different ways a person might blow on a drink to lower its temperature, such as “Look at That!,” characterized by the business as a gradual increase in force “as if [the robot] is fascinated by how the food appears,” or “The Princess,” which entails a series of “graceful, slow, and steady increments in strength.”

This startup asserts that the silicon-encased device can reduce the temperature of a hot drink from 88 degrees Celsius to 71 degrees or 66 degrees in three or five minutes, respectively. Without the robot, those same beverages would measure 80 or 77 degrees Celsius within that same three to five-minute interval. Traditionalists might suggest simply brewing tea at the desired temperature from the outset.

What a remarkable utilization of all that circuitry and plastic.

On the subject of feline-themed items that won’t be utilized …

The South Korean technology titan LG displayed numerous gadgets at the CES venue, and hidden within its “Inspire & Innovate” exhibit was an elegant cat bed known as the “AeroCat Tower,” which features a built-in air purifier.

The lofty, scoop-shaped cat bed reportedly houses sensors that monitor a cat’s health and weight while it slumbers, and due to its integration with LG’s suite of ThinQ smart home devices, it will convey all that information to a smartphone.

However, let’s be practical: It will produce noise, it will get scratched, and the feline is likely to prefer the box it arrives in. No information regarding pricing or availability has been disclosed for this probably-unused gadget.

A robot vacuum that further indulges the lazy

It’s one thing to permit a robot to vacuum your floors, but when a manufacturer adds a five-axis mechanical arm designed to pick up objects in its path, you know humanity has reached unprecedented levels of slothfulness.

Behold, the peak of bachelorhood – Click to enlarge

The Saros Z70 performs the typical tasks associated with a robot vacuum, yet the company claims it distinguishes itself with a robotic arm capable of lifting weights up to 300 grams – sufficient to displace small objects obstructing its path.

Roborock, the designer, indicates the Z70 can currently identify a select few items – such as dirty socks, crumpled tissues, shoes, and towels – and relocate them “toward” their designated places, with intentions of expanding its recognition capabilities to more items in the future.

Show attendees mentioned that the Z70 is not a fast mover: It reportedly requires about a minute to shift an object out of the vacuum robot’s path, suggesting that you might be better off sticking to

just not being a complete slob.

L’Oréal creates a device to sell you additional skin serum

There’s something somewhat cynical about crafting a device that will ostensibly inform you precisely which skin products you require to curb the signs of aging while being a manufacturer of those very products, but here we are.

L’Oréal, in collaboration with the Korean startup NanoEnTek, showcased the Cell BioPrint at CES, a “lab on a chip” apparatus that offers tailored skin evaluations “utilizing advanced proteomics” by simply applying an adhesive strip to the face, removing it, and placing it into the tabletop device.

Naturally, considering L’Oréal markets numerous anti-aging skin serums, the Cell BioPrint is inherently capable of examining skin samples to determine which ingredients will most effectively interact with an individual’s facial dermis to promote further sales. The beauty titan was reportedly informing CES attendees that it is designed for repeated use, as the products that are most beneficial may change over time.

No pricing information or release dates were provided, with L’Oréal merely stating intentions to pilot the device later this year in Asia.

Who needs to type comfortably when AI can make things complicated?

Sometimes CES innovations are outright ridiculous; other times, they’re over-designed into absurdity, as exemplified by the Autokeybo.

Doesn’t that just appear comfortable? – Click to enlarge

More substantial than some laptops, this two-part mechanical keyboard employs “AI machine vision” to recognize when a user wishes to shift between sections of the keyboard, along with a concealed trackpad/mouse compartment and numeric keypad, all to minimize the need for hand movement to access a mouse or trackpad.

Autokeybo also features a built-in Linux system, but this still does not mitigate the fact that there’s an awkward, forearm-sized metallic object positioned between the user and their keyboard, which may create more annoyance than it alleviates if the machine vision technology erroneously interprets slight movements as a need to switch interactive components.

When I work at my home office, I utilize a split keyboard and simplify my setup by placing a trackpad between the two sections. Issue resolved, without the necessity to drop $700 on the Autokeybo when it eventually releases.

A true jolt for the palate

Japanese brewery Kirin is concerned that individuals might be oversalting their meals, prompting it to create a $125 electric spoon that stimulates the tongue into perceiving food as saltier than it actually is.

Initially made available last year but only briefly sold through a lottery, the Kirin Electric Salt Spoon was presented at CES to spotlight Kirin’s ambition to distribute it more widely, knowing that many of us have a tendency to enjoy salt excessively.

Capable of toggling between four varying saltiness levels, the spoon is said to enhance the perception of salty flavors by as much as 1.5 times relative to the actual amount of salt in a dish.

However, it’s not without risks: Since the device employs a mild electric current to alter flavor, Kirin advises [PDF, machine translated] that individuals with medical implants like pacemakers, or those using ECG machines and similar devices, refrain from utilizing it. ®