Adrian Watkins

CES is a show that tends to embody the zeitgeist of whatever buzzy technologies are capturing our imaginations. This year, some of the biggest trends were wearables and smart everything, high-profile laptop rollouts, 8K TV, and futuristic autonomous vehicles.

This year, PC Mag found companies building cutting-edge AI, biotech, and high-tech drones (in both air and undersea varieties) —and even making old tech new again with recreated arcade machines for your home.

Abridged examples below. The full article link can be found at the bottom of the page.

Arcade 1UP
Arcade 1UP brings original licensed arcade games including Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and Galaga back to life in pre-assembled machines ($299 each) that weigh only 60 pounds despite authentical-size joystick and button controls. Built by recently launched startup Tastemakers LLC, Arcade 1 UP can be played on a desk, mounted on walls, or even on a door.

Mycroft AI
Companies are releasing more smart speakers than ever at a time when we’re all growing more conscious of how our apps and devices infringe on our privacy. That’s what makes Mycroft AI a refreshing change of pace. This open-source, privacy-focused voice assistant, which does not gather any personal data and keeps all communications private and encrypted, was first successfully crowdfunded in 2015 and shipped its Mark 1 version in 2017.

Aeronext
This Japanese startup, which launched in 2018, built a self-stabilizing drone capable of deliveries, industrial use, and most interesting, shooting 360-degree virtual reality footage. Using what Aeronext calls 4D Gravity core technology, the drone is always able to keep its center axis vertical in order to shoot uninterrupted high-res drone footage that can be incorporated into VR content while giving the drone more range when it flies against the wind.

BrainTap
An interesting moment on CES’s show floor was walking past a few attendees laying in deep relaxation, with headsets covering their eyes and ears. It turns out the startup was offering a service called “Braintapping,” which uses what BrainTap Technologies calls a “neuro algorithm” to sync a user’s brainwaves to a specialized sound.

Robomodix
The award for most eerily human-looking AI tech at CES goes to Robomodix, which was showing off its two prototypes, Alan and Alena. Robomodix is a robotics platform designed to experiment with, test, and refine open-source AI technologies in a robot intended to reduce the stigma of robots with a humanoid form.

Yape
Yape, which was launched in 2018 out of a research group from the Milan Technical Institute, is a compact, self-driving, zero-emissions robot for last-mile delivery. An acronym for Your Autonomous Pony Express, Yape is a two-wheeled electric-motor robot with a range of around 50 miles. It’s designed to avoid traffic in the narrow streets of European cities, traveling at a max speed of around 4mph on pavements and more than 12mph on roads.

Flux Planet
This Seoul-based startup, the brainchild of former Samsung employees, has built a 4D scanner and 3D projector for mapping and rendering AR/VR content. The company is releasing what it calls the first-ever consumer 4D scanner this spring for a hefty $50,000. It uses 250 cameras for full-body movement and cloud-based software to reconstruct complex models.

Amo Lab
Another South Korean startup, Amo Lab is using bioelectric medicine in a wearable sleep device called the Amo+ that looks like an amulet or necklace. Electromagnetic signals from the device stimulate nerves in the chest to reduce stress and stabilize your heart rate.

Notilo Plus iBubble
The autonomous subsea iBubble drone from Notilo Plus can dive to a depth of up to 200 feet and use AI to follow a diver around from up to 60 feet away with no cable attached. The diver can control the drone with quick gestures from a smart waterproof wristband, or the drone can be controlled from a remote on the surface.

Plott
This New Jersey startup, which won a CES Innovation Award this year, built a combined hardware and augmented/virtual reality platform to automate home improvement projects. Plott has a mobile app with which you take a photo or use AR capture mode to map a background and 3D objects. You then use Cubit — its electronic level, launching in March — to measure exactly where the object should be placed or mounted in a room. Plott also has a measuring wheel product called Carta launching this summer that maps a space’s distance as you walk it to get exact measurements.

Pocketalk
SourceNext, a Japanese startup with a US home base in Palo Alto, began selling its simple electronic translator device in the US this past October. The $299 Pocketalk, which includes a global SIM card, has a simple interface to translate two-way conversations quickly into 74 languages and counting. Two-way speakers and dual microphones with noise cancellation can keep accurate conversations going in loud settings—like, say, on the CES show floor, where the device quickly translated a conversation from English to Japanese.

Bell.AI
A 2019 CES Innovation Award winner, Bell.AI and its Bell robot products for kids ages 3 to 13 are STEM education tools intended to help kids learn coding skills via DIY robotic kits. The modular Mabot robot kit lets kids build, customize, and program a robot they then control via an app. The robots are compatible with Lego and programmed in a drag-and-drop environment designed on Scratch. Another kit, Rebot, uses aluminum parts to make even more advanced robots.

Vault Logic
Last but not least were, of course, some blockchain and crypto startups hawking their wares at CES. One of the more interesting was Vault Logic, which is building intelligent blockchain-powered ATMs where users can buy and sell cryptocurrencies with dynamically adjusting cash-to-crypto prices. The startup is also pushing “cash-as-a-service” applications such as the addition of third-party cash apps, bill pay services, and shopping, to turn its physical ATM into a crypto services machine.

The full article can be found at Medium.