In this week’s Tech Insight, we look at 15 notable gadgets from a CES focused on how artificial intelligence is being embedded into physical products for homes, health, and everyday use.
CES 2026
The Consumer Electronics Show, held each January in Las Vegas, Nevada, has long been a place where experimental concepts sit alongside near ready consumer products. This year, at CES 2026 (6 to 9 January), the emphasis seemed to have shifted from screen-based, software-led generative AI and digital assistants decisively towards what many exhibitors described as physical AI, systems where software intelligence is combined with sensors, motors, cameras, and materials that allow it to act in the real world rather than simply respond on a screen.
The Same Core Technologies
Rather than being dominated by a single category, CES 2026 showed how the same core technologies are being applied across robotics, smart homes, personal devices, and health monitoring.
A 15 Gadget Snapshot Of CES 2026
Here, we’ve selected 15 gadgets from CES 2026 to give a sense of how the event showcased AI being built into physical products for homes, health, and everyday use.
1. Razer Project AVA Holographic Desk Companion
Razer, the Singapore-founded gaming hardware company, showcased an evolved version of Project AVA, reworking its earlier esports coach concept into a holographic desk companion. The device projects a small animated character that can offer gaming advice, productivity support, and general assistance, using eye tracking and a built-in camera to remain aware of the user and their screen. While the lifelike movement and character customisation drew attention, the idea of a device that constantly watches its user also triggered some privacy concerns. Razer continues to describe AVA as more of a concept, leaving questions about data handling and whether it will ever reach retail.
2. An’An AI Panda Companion Robot
Developed by Mind with Heart Robotics, a China-based robotics company, An’An is a soft, plush AI-powered panda designed to support older adults living alone. Sensors across its body allow it to respond naturally to touch, while voice recognition and memory features let it adapt to a user’s habits and preferences over time. Beyond companionship, An’An is positioned as a wellbeing tool, offering reminders and sharing updates with caregivers. Unlike novelty robots, its value is tied to ageing populations and loneliness, which is why it stood out amid more playful concepts.
3. GoveeLife Smart Nugget Ice Maker Pro
US-based smart home brand GoveeLife demonstrated how AI can be applied in subtle ways with its Smart Nugget Ice Maker Pro. The machine uses predictive monitoring to reduce noise by identifying when ice formation is likely to cause loud cracking and triggering defrosting early. Rather than adding features, the focus is on refining behaviour, making this a rare example of AI being used to make an existing appliance less annoying rather than just trying to introduce novelty.
4. Seattle Ultrasonics C 200 Ultrasonic Chef’s Knife
The C 200 cordless, battery-powered kitchen knife from Seattle Ultrasonics uses a blade that vibrates at ultrasonic frequencies, reportedly over 30,000 times per second. The vibration reduces the force required to cut, allowing the blade to behave as if it were sharper without a visibly moving edge. Reactions at CES seemed to be mixed, with some questioning its practicality for everyday cooking, while others pointed to its potential accessibility benefits for users with reduced hand strength.
5. Lollipop Star Musical Lollipop
One of the most debated gadgets at CES 2026 was the musical lollipop from US-based consumer electronics startup Lollipop Star, which actually uses bone conduction to play music through vibrations while in the mouth. While technically clever, the product raised some concerns about disposable electronics and embedded batteries in single use items. This meant it became a bit of a focal point in wider discussions about waste and sustainability rather than a serious consumer proposition.
6. Zeroth Robotics W1 Home And Outdoor Robot
China-based robotics company Zeroth Robotics introduced the W1, a mobile robot positioned as both a home security patrol unit and an outdoor companion for activities such as camping. The robot can move autonomously, carry equipment, take photos, and provide portable power. Its broad feature set reflects a trend towards multi purpose robots, though its high price places it firmly in the experimental luxury category rather than mainstream adoption.
7. Mira Ultra4 Hormone Monitor
The Ultra4 Hormone Monitor from Mira, a San Francisco-based women’s health technology company, is designed for at home tracking of four reproductive hormones using urine test wands. By providing insights into fertile windows and hormonal changes, the device highlights how health testing is moving out of clinics and into the home. The convenience is clear, although experts have stressed the importance of clear guidance to prevent misinterpretation of results without medical support.
8. Roborock Saros Rover Stair Climbing Robot Vacuum
Beijing-based home robotics company Roborock drew crowds with the Saros Rover, a robot vacuum designed to climb and clean stairs using articulated leg wheel mechanisms. Stairs remain one of the biggest barriers to full home automation, and while demonstrations showed promise, coverage also noted the difficulty of making such systems work reliably across varied real world environments.
9. LG OLED Evo W6 Wallpaper TV
South Korea-based electronics giant LG returned to its ultra thin “Wallpaper” TV concept with the OLED evo W6. Measuring just millimetres thick, the TV is designed to sit flush against a wall, using wireless connectivity to reduce visible cabling. Rather than being a pure concept, the W6 reflects years of incremental display improvements reaching a point where extreme thinness is finally practical.
10. LEGO Smart Play Interactive Bricks
LEGO introduced Smart Play, a system of electronic bricks that include sensors, lights, and sound. The bricks respond to movement and interaction during play, adding feedback without relying on a phone or tablet as the primary interface. The idea here appears to be to keep the focus on physical creativity while quietly introducing children to interactive systems and cause and effect logic.
11. Aqara Smart Lock U400 With Ultra Wideband
China-based smart home company Aqara showcased the Smart Lock U400, a connected front-door smart lock designed for residential use, which uses ultra wideband radio to enable more reliable auto unlocking. Ultra wideband can measure distance and direction with far greater accuracy than Bluetooth, reducing false triggers. The lock also supports the Matter standard, meaning it can work with a wider range of smart home platforms rather than being tied to a single ecosystem.
12. Flint Biodegradable Paper Battery
Singapore-based battery startup Flint showcased a biodegradable battery made from water-based chemistry and cellulose rather than lithium or cobalt. Positioned as non-explosive and environmentally safer, the battery attracted attention because it is already in production rather than being purely experimental. That said, it did raise some questions about performance and cost, although its presence at CES reflects growing pressure to rethink energy storage materials.
13. Clicks Communicator Physical Keyboard Phone
The Clicks Communicator from US-based hardware startup Clicks is a smartphone that combines a physical keyboard with a simplified Android interface designed primarily for messaging. By reducing visual distraction and prioritising communication, the device has been designed as a response to growing dissatisfaction with attention-driven smartphone design rather than competing on raw specifications.
14. Punkt MC03 Privacy Focused Smartphone
Swiss company Punkt presented the MC03 as a smartphone built around privacy and user control because it doesn’t have many of the default services and background tracking common on mainstream smartphones. By limiting default services and reducing reliance on data-intensive ecosystems, the device is designed to appeal to users who are particularly concerned about tracking and profiling. While niche, it reinforces the idea that privacy is becoming a differentiating feature rather than an afterthought.
15. Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist
Well-known Chinese technology company Lenovo showcased the ThinkBook Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist, a laptop concept featuring a motorised rotating display that responds to voice and gesture commands. The design aims to adapt the screen to different usage modes automatically, showing how AI is being used to rethink hardware interaction rather than just software features.
What Does This Mean For Your Business?
Taken together, these gadgets, and many others at the show, highlight how CES 2026 was less about headline grabbing AI software and more about the harder task of making AI useful once it is embedded into physical products. Many of the devices on display were not radical in isolation, e.g., an ice maker, a door lock, a TV, a phone, but they show how AI is increasingly being used to refine behaviour, reduce friction, and adapt hardware to real world contexts. At the same time, the presence of unfinished concepts and questionable designs highlights how difficult it remains to balance intelligence, reliability, privacy, and sustainability once AI moves beyond the screen.
For UK businesses, this shift has some practical implications. For example, as AI becomes built into everyday equipment rather than delivered purely through apps and cloud services, purchasing, security, and compliance decisions will increasingly involve physical assets. Smart locks, health devices, robotics, and connected appliances raise new questions around data governance, maintenance, liability, and lifecycle management, particularly in regulated environments such as healthcare, education, and housing. Businesses that understand these trade-offs early will be better placed to adopt useful systems while avoiding unnecessary risk.
For consumers, policymakers, and technology providers, CES 2026 also highlighted that physical AI raises the stakes. For example, devices that watch, listen, move, or interact physically demand a higher level of trust than software alone. As these products move closer to market, expectations around transparency, safety, repairability, and long-term value will only increase. The overall trend may be clear, but the pace and shape of adoption will most likely depend on how well the industry addresses these concerns as AI continues to move into homes, health, and everyday life.
