Climbing vacuums to cyber pets: Highlights of CES | Information, Sports activities, Jobs

An individual walks previous a wallpaper TV show on the LG sales space through the CES tech present in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

LAS VEGAS (AP) — CES 2026 supplied a glimpse of a future that feels straight out of a sci-fi film: bendable screens, paper-thin TVs and vehicles and devices that may suppose for themselves as they get to know you and your loved ones’s desires and desires.

As Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang put it, “The ChatGPT moment for physical AI is here.”

And in all places you seemed, robots. They roamed the present ground, assisted staff and entertained crowds — from humanoid helpers and furry “cyber pets” to task-specific machines.

Here’s a recap of a few of the attention-grabbing devices at CES 2026, the annual know-how commerce present in Las Vegas:

Star Wars and Lego

Lego leaned closely into fan nostalgia this week to unveil its newest innovation, enlisting Lucasfilm Chief Creative Officer David Filoni and a lineup of acquainted Star Wars characters, together with Chewbacca, R2-D2, C-3PO and X-wing pilots.

On Monday, the corporate launched Lego Smart Play, a brand new platform constructed round related bricks, tags and specifically designed minifigures in partnership with Star Wars. These good bricks are outfitted with sensors that detect mild and distance, triggering coordinated lights and sounds when used collectively to deliver builds to life.

The platform permits followers to construct interactive scenes, like area battles or lightsaber duels.

Real buttons are so again

Another level for nostalgia: Clicks Technology is reviving the bodily telephone keyboard with its magnetic QWERTY mannequin that clips onto telephones.

Co-founder Jeff Gadway mentioned the corporate’s Power Keyboard “is one keyboard for all your smart devices.”

It incorporates a full QWERTY format, with directional keys and a quantity row, in a callback to the Blackberry-era of smartphones for individuals who miss actual buttons. The firm mentioned it additionally doubles as a wi-fi energy financial institution.

Return of LG’s Wallpaper TV line

If you’re not aware of CES, simply know that new TV bulletins are ubiquitous to the present — some huge, some small, some even clear. But LG introduced one thing distinct to CES this yr: an OLED TV that’s solely 9mm thick.

The South Korean tech firm introduced the OLED evo W6 mannequin from its Wallpaper line simply forward of CES however reporters and trade representatives have been capable of see it for the primary time on the present.

As marketed, the display screen shows video practically edge-to-edge and is ridiculously skinny (although it doesn’t roll up like its identify implies). Like the earlier fashions in its Wallpaper line, the TV’s inputs are housed in a field that sits close by. LG representatives declare you’ll be able to seamlessly stream 4K video and audio to the display screen. No pricing was accessible however the brand new TV will probably be accessible in 77- and 83-inch sizes.

The vacuum that may climb stairs

Chinese robovac maker Roborock launched a vacuum that actually sprouts chicken-like legs to navigate up and down stairs. There are vacuums on the market able to this feat (and there have been even a number of others at CES), however this one really cleans the steps alongside the way in which.

The newly launched Saros Rover took its time in its ascent and descent through the demo on the showroom ground, however Roborock mentioned it is going to be capable of traverse virtually any type of stairwell, together with spiraled and curved. Unfortunately, no launch date was given for the Rover, which the corporate says remains to be in growth.

“Cyber pet” turns heads

Allergic to canines or cats however nonetheless craving a furry sidekick? Chinese tech model Ollobot pitched a futuristic various: a rolling, purple “cyber pet” named OlloNi. Part plush toy, half AI robotic, OlloNi is designed to really feel heat and expressive, in contrast to the stiff, humanoid residence robots that always dominate robotics, the corporate mentioned.

OlloNi makes use of a display screen mounted at its neck, making eye contact and biking by means of 1000’s of animated expressions meant to reflect human emotion and interplay.

Scratch behind its fuzzy “ears,” and OlloNi’s large digital “eyes” pop open in obvious delight, which drew consideration and laughs from passersby on the present ground.

Razer goes the good glasses route with headphones

Gaming tech firm Razer introduced a really attention-grabbing idea to CES, a set of over-ear headphones that may largely replicate the capabilities of presently accessible good glasses (suppose Meta’s Ray Ban glasses).

During the demo, Razer’s host requested the AI-powered headset — dubbed Project Motoko — to translate a Japanese restaurant menu into English and even requested it to look up data on The Associated Press.

The headphones see utilizing built-in cameras and take audio inputs from microphones. What AI mannequin serves as the bottom of the headphones is as much as the person, and it gave the impression of the standard suspects have been supported — ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude.

While it’s being developed largely as a shopper product, Razer did point out that it may very well be offered to companies to collect knowledge to coach AI fashions. Razer mentioned shopper knowledge retrieved from the headphones wouldn’t be offered for coaching functions and that enterprise gross sales could be siloed from shopper gross sales.

Platform goals to assist with grief

Do you want you could possibly converse yet another time with a beloved one who died unexpectedly? Or sit down for a dialog together with your youthful self? One firm is exploring how immersive know-how may make one thing like that potential, at the least partially.

VHEX Lab showcased its SITh.XRaedo, an immersive extended-reality grief remedy platform that creates a digital avatar from a single photograph and, in accordance the corporate, is guided in actual time by a educated XR therapist. Wearing a digital actuality headset, customers can converse with the avatar, which responds by means of speech, nods, smiles and different gestures.

The firm, which gained a digital well being innovation award at CES, mentioned the platform is designed to assist individuals course of grief and discover closure, providing an alternate strategy to mourn.

Uber again in robotaxi sport

Uber used CES to tug again the curtain on its upcoming robotaxi, providing the general public a primary take a look at a self-driving automobile developed with luxurious EV maker Lucid Motors and autonomous know-how firm Nuro.

Uber known as it essentially the most premium robotaxi but, with cameras, sensors and radar for full 360-degree consciousness, together with a glossy, low-profile roof “halo” fitted with LED screens that show a rider’s initials and trip standing. Inside, passengers can tailor the temperature, seat heating and music, whereas on-screen visuals present what the automobile sees and the route it plans to comply with in actual time.

The corporations mentioned on-road testing, led by Nuro, started within the San Francisco space final month, as they work towards launching the service earlier than the top of the yr.

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Associated Press journalists Aya Diab, Jessica Hill and Ty O’Neil contributed to this report from Las Vegas.