10 cool home gadgets from CES in Las Vegas — PHOTOS
Puppy robot
Sony’s Aibo puppy robot has a camera in its nose, OLED screens for eyes and touch sensors on its body that give it the ability to recognize faces and react to petting. The artificially intelligent puppy becomes more attached to you the more you play with it and thus interacts with each person differently. Aibo also recognizes voice and can bark back in response. The robot will go on sale in Japan this month for around $1,700.
«You get all the puppy without all the problems,” Sony rep says when desribing the latest Aibo. The puppy robot that has AI, facial recognition capabilities allowing it to interact with each person differently. Constant crowd around the Aibo demonstration at CES. @reviewjournal pic.twitter.com/vQyRSMFbmI
— Todd Prince (@toddprincetv) January 11, 2018
Foldimate
The Foldimate folds clothes, towels and other items and stacks them in a neat pile. To fold a T-shirt, you simply slide the left and right shoulder area between two clamps. The 3-foot-tall machine then pulls the shirt inside, folds it and adds it to the pile. A new shirt can be loaded every few seconds. Foldimate, developed in Israel, will begin shipping the machines to the U.S. in late 2019. The machines will cost around $900.
#Foldimate automatically folds clothing, towels, ect and is on display at #CES2018. Will begin shiping to US next year for just under $1,000. @reviewjournal pic.twitter.com/49jyekxsQQ
— Todd Prince (@toddprincetv) January 12, 2018
Spire Health Tag
The Spire Health Tag is for those who need or want to track their daily physical activity, but have a hard time remembering to put on their wearable device, such as a watch or Fitbit. Spire’s tags — about the size of the care instruction on your clothing — can be attached to your most used items, such as undergarments, to track your health 24 hours a day. The company sells them in packs of eight for $199 so they can be placed on multiple pairs of undergarments or other clothing. The tags record breathing patterns, stress levels, sleep, daily activity, and heart rate, which can be viewed on product’s accompanying mobile app. The tags are washable and the batteries last at least a year. Spire teamed up with swim.com to add them to bathing suits as well.
Air Shower appliance
South Korea’s Coway has developed an appliance that can remove odors, bacteria and dust from clothing without the need to wash them. The Air Shower looks like a thin closet for shirts and suits and can freshen clothing in 45 minutes. The appliance will soon be made available in the U.S., though the company did not give a price point. It is sold as a monthly service in South Korea for just under $50 a month. The service includes replacing the air filters required for cleaning.
No need to toss work attire in the wash each evening with Conway’s ‘Air Shower.’ It claims to kill odors, bacteria and rid it of dust. Offered as a ~$50 monthly service in South Korea. Will come to US. pic.twitter.com/mpibp3szEq
— Todd Prince (@toddprincetv) January 12, 2018
Whirlpool appliance
Gone are the days of forgetting to put wet, freshly laundered clothing into the dryer. Whirlpool is offering an all-in-one washer and dryer that will free up space and time. While the concept isn’t new, the Whirlpool app will notify you once the washing cycle has finished. The dry cycle can be activated via the app as well. You can empty a whole bottle of detergent into the machine, which can estimate based on weight, how much to add to a fresh load. The appliance comes in a 24-inch and 27-inch model and will retail for about $1,699 later this year.
Revamped WHILL
WHILL has upgraded its personal electric vehicles with smart technology and a new design. If you feel too weak to walk around the house, you can call the electric vehicle to your location through your phone app. The WHILL’s omni wheels make traversing rocky and dirt surfaces easier. The new smart Model Ci can reach a top speed of 5 miles per hour and cover 10-miles on its lithium-ion battery. Additionally, the $4,000 vehicle can be easily taken apart and placed in a car.
Tile
Lost your phone, keys, bags, purses or passport — again? Tile helps users to quickly find them. Square-shaped and about the length and height of a quarter, Tile attaches to your keychain, bags, purses and even your laptop, wallet and passport. It can let you know the last location of an item with the use of its app or Google Assistant.
Just ask, ‘”Hey Google, where is my black bag?’’ and Google Assistant will give you the exact location as long as the bag has a Tile tag on it and was connected via Bluetooth to your phone. To find your phone, just press the Tile on your keychain to ring your device. A Tile costs $30, and are are sold in packs of four and eight for $100 and $180, respectively.
Sleep sensor
The quality and length of sleep is getting more attention these days and companies are rushing to offer solutions. Nokia’s sleep sensor is a flat, foot-long material goes under your mattress at chest level. Though it doesn’t look like much at first sight, the roughly $125 gadget can measure the length and depth of your sleep, your sleep cycles, heart and respiratory rates. It also has snoring detection. The sleep sensor connects to Nokia’s Health Mate app, which can track one person at a time.
Special suitcase
The 90Fun Puppy is a suitcase that rolls itself. Incorporating Segway technology, the suitcase will hit markets later this year and retail between the $300 and $500 range. The suitcase, made of carbon fiber and plastic, will come in three sizes: 22, 25 and 28 inches. The 90Fun Puppy can reach speeds of 5 mph and has approval from the Transportation Security Administration.
Mini Shot
Kodak’s Mini Shot is ideal for those who love to frame photos or just stick them onto a refrigerator or room wall. The mini not only keeps a 10 megapixel digital copy of your memory, but it prints it on the spot in under a minute. The camera, which retails for about $100, prints 2.1-by-3.4 photos. The digital photo can be uploaded to your phone via Bluetooth or cable and edited in Kodak’s app.
Contact Todd Prince at tprince@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0386. Follow @toddprincetv on Twitter.
