During the all digital #CES2021 I missed some of my favourite things to do during technology trade shows. I did discover some ground-breaking delicious, autonomous, robotic, sharing, parking, charging and paddling technology to share with you.
CES this year lacked many of the traditions I previously adored tasting, trying things, riding/driving and talking to the inventors. When demoing food products usually attendees get to taste the food. I’d like to taste the same treats in vending machines at the Tesla factory in northern California: Yo-Kai Express on-demand Asian noodle dishes.
They plan on deploying their mobile noodle ramen/pho units autonomously fully integrated with an ordering app. In fact, Japanese Miyazaki Wagyu Ramen will be available at Yo-Kai kiosks from the mobile unit soon.
“Our autonomous mobile unit will make appearances on university campuses and private
complexes (stadiums, office and medical) in the middle of this year. Using IoT, AI and patented technology, our mobile units can precisely calculate the most optimal cooking time during transit to the customer. Upon arrival, a freshly cooked meal awaits them,” says Amanda Tsung, Chief Operating Officer, Yo-Kai Express.
In CESes of yesteryear, I would get to try out things and learn. There are too many bikers dying unnecessarily from head injuries because helmets are not being worn properly. I would like to try on the CASTODIAN helmet monitor device to see if I’m wearing my helmet correctly. It’s called HDSL (Helmet Device for Saving Heads).
The multi-sensor device monitors unique in-helmet data related to safety. It provides motorcyclists and emergency responders life-saving information and insights.
Johannes Loewe, President/Founder, CASTODIAN says: “We’re the only solution before. during and after an accident.”
Yes, I do like to try things out. FutuRocket Co. showed its connected smart self-ordering toilet paper holder. It’s compatible with the Dash replenishment service by Amazon.
“New rolls can be ordered automatically or with just a few clicks. Cleaning staff no longer have to check the toilet paper in public bathrooms as often, reducing cleaning costs. By using this product you’ll never run out of toilet paper again,” says the spokesmodel in the video. Yes, I would like to see and try it out. Just give the TP a pull to see if it is fast roll out or slow tug.
Not all devices, cars, e-bikes, boats, or heavy machinery are connected. KHIKO claims to be the first connected antitheft device that is autonomous and smart. It is more than just GPS, it is able to detect suspicious movements, sends real-time alerts and is connected to smartphone apps.
“It can even call you,” says Pascal LaVaur, Founder of Go4ioT, “Stolen equipment represent
important, financial operational and emotional losses.”
In a live CES exhibit, I would try to steal a KHIKO by Go4ioT connected to an e-bike to see how it works and if they catch me.
Marc Lambert, President and Founder of lextan introduced Autopod remotely operated with
telepresence. The driver is projected on the screen of the pod for last-mile deliveries such as pizza.
“We are in the development phase of a commercial launch with the deployment of 5G. The
teleoperated vehicle is able to reproduce the visual and sound presence of the driver,” says
Lambert in the video.
There would probably be no room for humans to sit in an Autopod. It would be fun to watch it move around the Vegas Strip or maybe it could deliver hot pizza to an attendee – me.
Immortal Tires
A huge time waster is replacing and servicing tires. When I first saw the ResiTire, I thought it was a tire made out of springs for outer space. Through an email, I learned more details from CEO and Founder, Igor Tutelman.
ResiTire is an airless tire that eliminates flats without sacrificing performance. ResiTires use an advanced space-age alloy, called nitinol, that is elastic like rubber and strong like titanium. The special alloys are used to create an exoskeleton tire design that can withstand any terrain and climate without failing. ResiTire uses NASA’s patent Superelastic Tire technology and leverages existing research.
“I was introduced to the technology through FedTech and the NASA Start-up Studio and
immediately fell in love with it,” reports Tutleman. Nitinol materials are vacuum-melted, hotworked, cold-worked, and then heat-treated to achieve final properties and consist primarily of nickel and titanium.
“We are developing the ResiTire so that it is possible to retread the tire, rather than replace it altogether. ResiTires will look like today’s tires once we put rubber around them,” Tuttleman wrote.
Usually, at CES, there are lines of attendees sitting on the floor connecting to wall outlets to power their devices. What if there was a way to wirelessly power something as big as a TV or escooter?
Anton Vishnevsky, President Founder of Reasonance, says in a video: “We know how to make things work without wires.” He is seen showing how the charging will work with mobility such as e-bikes or scooters that can be integrated into a parking space or smart roads.”
“Our technology is significantly more advanced than magnetic resonance a magnetic field is
generated by both conductivity and displacement currents and, therefore, ensures major
advantages in wireless power transfer. The fundamental difference is that our technology
contains both inductance and capacitance components in one single structural element,”
reports the Reasonance’s company website.
My nerdy brain wanted me to take my hand and run it through the contactless charging area to see if this technology from Cypress was safe. Okay, I probably do that – I did ask at a previous CES demo of wireless car charging what would happen if a squirrel ran through it?
Cyclists spend too much time parking their bikes due to lack of space and security issues.
One of the pain points of bike riding is parking the bike. Not only finding a space but running the locks through the tires, basket and helmet. It has taken me as long as ten minutes to lock things up securely. It takes even longer in the rain.
I am impressed by La Ruche à Vélos autonomous safe bike and e-bike parking. It features
charging and storage of valuables connected to smartphone apps. It looks like you put the bike in a biked size elevator. Then it is stored on rails in a special locked bike-park.
“We decided to found La Ruche à Vélos to support the development of cycling by responding to the issue of safety when parking. Cyclists spend too much time parking their bikes due to lack of space and security issues. With La Ruche à Vélos, it only takes 30 seconds to park or retrieve your bike (and those regardless of the climate),” direct-messaged, Guillaume Chaumet, Co-Founder.
It gets me thinking-if they install a La Ruche at the Las Vegas Convention Center I could ride my bike to CES I would not have to pay $40.00 for parking. I would get to CES before the Monorail, buses, Ubers and Lyfts.
Auto Futures has covered lots of land travel but what about a Bird sharing-like service for epeddle boats? What fun to be propelled around a pool in a golden dockless Prop Water Scooter. It surely would be a hit with the propeller-heads who usually attend CES.
CES exhibitor Prop Water Scooter operates as a dockless, human-powered and electric hybrid water transportation device operated via a sharing platform modelled after Bird or Lime. The Prop Water Scooter can be rented like a land-based scooter, used on the water without getting wet, and doesn’t have to be returned to the same location.
“We go where other mobility solutions don’t go,” notes the exhibitor’s copy.
It would be a refreshing break from the massive crowds. Another thing I like to do to is to play with the display.
Many CESes ago, I tried to get a seven-thousand-dollar dog-bot to sit – something any real canine would do if enticed by a treat. It would not sit and it couldn’t catch a ball or a stick.
I would like to see if the robotic AI-enabled cat with OLED eyes and voice/face recognition, the maicat, would purr for me. The video shows it learning how to play with another maicat. The Korean company’s exhibit was very popular.
“The response was great. People were amazed by its natural motion. They loved its activeness and cute looks. We got fantastic feedback,” messaged Marie Kang, COO and Co-Founder of Macroact, the maker of maicat which will cost about $1000 when it comes to market.
I would be even more thrilled if they could teach the robotic maicat to navigate the CES digital exhibit space. It would help because searching for exhibitors was a real pain in the mouse.
Virtual Vegas
You have to scroll through a tedious header sponsored image with only twelve exhibitors on a page making it take days to peruse the over 600 automotive tech and smart city companies. There was no option to show more on the screen. Plus, there were no company descriptions like previous years, only a name and a logo taking up my precious screen.
After clicking on the exhibitor logo, a new warning screen required a mouse hover over a yes click for sharing information, wasting human time. And it did not work with an enter key from the keyboard it required mouse movement and a hard click to see every exhibitor. By default, the UI listed exhibitors alphabetically. By the time I got to ZeroKey, I was exhausted. I also felt sorry for the ‘Z-cos’ who may never be seen or clicked due to mouse fatigue.
ZeroKey is on a mission to drive optimization by digitizing things that have never been digitized before. Patented Smart Space, delivers hyper-accurate, real-time, 3D location of assets, personnel and equipment across large environments, flipping industrial workflow paradigms on their head. Hey ZeroKey – please, please revamp the workflow of attendees to the next CES digital…
I do not miss the legendary CES traffic. I do miss the autonomous pods, demos, robots, people and the noodles.
