From climbing vacuums to cyber pets: Some highlights of CES 2026 | Information, Sports activities, Jobs

AP Photo/Abbie Parr
LEGO good bricks are proven throughout a LEGO information convention forward of the CES tech present Monday, Jan. 5, in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — CES 2026 provided 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 assume for themselves as they get to know you and your loved ones’s needs and desires.

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

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

Here’s a recap of among the attention-grabbing devices at CES 2026, the annual expertise 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 linked bricks, tags and specifically designed minifigures in partnership with Star Wars. These good bricks are geared up with sensors that detect gentle and distance, triggering coordinated lights and sounds when used collectively to carry 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 contains a full QWERTY structure, 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 accustomed to CES, simply know that new TV bulletins are ubiquitous to the present — some large, some small, some even clear. But LG introduced one thing distinct to CES this 12 months: 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 business representatives had been in a position to see it for the primary time on the present.

As marketed, the display screen shows video almost 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 may seamlessly stream 4K video and audio to the display screen. No pricing was out there however the brand new TV will probably be out there in 77- and 83-inch sizes.

The vacuum that

can 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 throughout the demo on the showroom ground, however Roborock mentioned it will likely be in a position to traverse nearly 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 improvement.

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 out there good glasses (assume 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 had been supported — ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude.

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

Extended-reality platform goals to assist course of grief

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

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 skilled 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 folks course of grief and discover closure, providing an alternate solution to mourn.

Personal mobility

on autopilot

Sit again, chill out and benefit from the trip — that’s precisely what some convention attendees did at Strutt’s sales space. Curious volunteers sat blindfolded within the robotics firm’s new self-driving private mobility chair referred to as the EV1, which senses its environment and navigates by itself. With the push of a button and a ahead lever, the chair guided riders by means of a small course, looping them round with out requiring any energetic management.

Tony Hong, CEO and founding father of the Singapore-based Strutt, instructed AP that the chair has a full suite of sensors that helps it keep away from bumps, partitions, folks and different obstacles, adjusting in actual time because it drives.

A “cyber pet” that turned heads at CES

Allergic to canine 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, not like 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 hundreds of animated expressions meant to reflect human emotion and interplay.

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

Uber dives again into the robotaxi sport

Uber used CES to drag 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 expertise firm Nuro.

Uber referred to as it probably the most premium robotaxi but, with cameras, sensors and radar for full 360-degree consciousness, together with a modern, 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 firms 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 tip of the 12 months.