The show floor at CES 2024 in Las Vegas is officially open!
To say there’s a lot to see is an understatement. There are millions of square feet of stuff on display from over 4,000 exhibitors. That’s many dozens of football fields of gadgets, cars, machines and more.
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“The ingredient that’s really big this year that really wasn’t around much last year is the new type of AI, AI plus. Basically, artificial intelligence, but that learns,” said Gary Shaprio, head of the Consumer Technology Association, the trade group that puts on CES.
Swiss startup Flappie Technologies is trying to solve that age-old question: what did the cat drag in?
Their AI-powered cat door will only open if your cat is alone and doesn’t have a dead mouse or other prey in its mouth.
The $399 smart cat flap door will take a video of the entire incident so you can presumably share on social media.
“It acts as a bouncer. And that means that once the cat wants to enter with any kind of prey, we lock the door immediately. And that way, we can provide peace of mind to cat owners again,” said Denis Widler of Flappie Technologies.
Now, when I was a student, I had to remember a combination code for my locker. Now, you can just use your fingerprint!
Shark Tank winner Benjilock is showing off their smart locks that pop open with a fingerprint scan! Their latest locks are TSA-approved, which means airport security can get into your luggage if necessary, but thieves can’t.
Three new models start at $40 dollars: a cable lock, a sport lock, and, coming soon, their toughest stainless steel lock.
“The idea started because you’re so tired of forgetting combinations, leaving the keys inside. And I said to myself, how come there’s not a lock that you can open with your biometric, with your fingerprint, but also with a key? And that’s how the Benjilock idea started,” said founder Robbie Cabral.
Robots are always a mainstay at CES, and this year’s show is no different. This time they are just much more supercharged with AI.
I checked out Miroka, which is a social logistic robot that looks like it is out of a video game. It’s friendly, interactive with personality and can even transport small items.
It’s designed for places like hospitals, nursing homes and airports.
“We wanted to create a character robot, or a robot character. It’s important for us to bring more than utility to being– we think that technology can be more than useful. And for that, we create characters that bring smiles around storytelling,” said Richard Malterre of Enchanted Tools.
Samsung is also showing off a rolling AI robot called Ballie: it’s about the size of a soccer ball.
The friendly device says hi to you when you come home, follows you around the house, and has a built-in projector to display information.
In a demo, I saw how Ballie can be a personal companion, projecting everything from recipes to a live video feed of a doorbell camera on the wall.