Following last year’s online-only event, this year’s Consumer Electronics Show returned ‘home’ to Las Vegas in the first week of January, attracting around 40,000 attendees. While this constitutes only 25% of the show’s usual crowd (organizers blame omicron), CES 2022 is still indicating where consumer electronics are heading in the coming years.
Our very own IoT Business Development Manager Andrew Mospan attended CES 2022, where he experienced firsthand the innovation the showcase had to offer. He was also able to make connections with exhibitors who might be interested in leveraging our IoT expertise in their own businesses.
Below, Andrew shares his take on the trends that are shaping consumer electronics in 2022, based on what he saw at CES.
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Smart wellness devices are getting bigger — literally and figuratively.
Robots (and computer vision) are coming.
Build your consumer electronics device with Lemberg Solutions
1. Smart wellness devices are getting bigger — literally and figuratively.
At-home workout equipment used to be something you only needed on the rare occasion you couldn’t make it to the gym. Then the pandemic happened. With gyms closed for much of the last two years, a pair of dumbbells doesn’t cut it anymore. At-home fitness devices have been getting larger — and smarter, too.
You’d have had a hard time finding training equipment with no bells and whistles at this year’s CES. Many devices had giant screens meant to make you feel like you’re running through a forest or rowing down a river, while others came as a product plus service combo, connecting you to a personal trainer who could watch you exercise, correct your technique, and deliver a personalized training plan.
Feeling sore after your workout? Climb into a massage chair that will de-stress every — and I mean every — muscle in your body, warm you up, and play some relaxing tunes while you’re in it. This particular massage chair I’m referring to is called “Bodyfriend,” and it even got the CES innovation award in the home appliances category.
There was also no shortage of wearables and other smart devices for tracking overall health, as well as more specific markers, such as lung health or blood pressure.
2. Robots (and computer vision) are coming.
CES has been a massive robot show for a long time, and this year was no different.
Samsung presented a robot butler that can take your groceries when you get home, pass your salt while you’re cooking, pour a glass of wine, do your dishes, and even tuck you in if your leg pokes from under the cover while you’re sleeping.
Another assistant robot presented at CES 2022 is going to make our lives easier much sooner than Samsung’s “Handy,” which is still a prototype. It’s called “Labrador Retriever,” and it’s headed for mass production by the second half of 2023 (beta testing is already ongoing). Its purpose is to move loads around the house and keep small items like necessary medication close at hand. It may seem like a luxury to some, but for people with limited mobility, this type of robot can be a life changer.
Continuing with the subject of robots that carry things around, there were also waiter robots. My guess is that the pandemic is related to their emergence, considering how many people waiters interact with during a typical work day. I tried tripping one such robot to check how good its proximity sensors were but wasn’t successful — the robot stopped momentarily. It might have spilled a drink if it was carrying one, but it definitely wouldn’t hurt a child or a pet that suddenly jumped in front of it.
In addition to your typical robots, there were also a few autonomous vehicles that utilized computer vision, like this tractor and racecar:
3. So long, non-electric cars.
Small, large, autonomous, non-autonomous, buses, trucks, pickups — you name it, there was an EV for it. Flying cars? Sure.
The Stellantis corporation was likely the only company presenting diesel and petrol cars at this year’s CES. Mostly to show they were still there, there wasn’t much innovation to speak of in that department (with the exception of Chrysler’s EV concept). Everything else was electric.
Cars weren’t the only devices with batteries, either. CES 2022 showcased plenty of charging stations, and not just for cars. Some had solar panels and could produce 220V, meaning you could keep one at home and plug your usual household devices into it if your power went out. You could also take it with you when you go camping, leaving it to charge under the sun during the day and using it to power a fridge or a speaker in the evening.
Build your consumer electronics device with Lemberg Solutions
If I were to run a survey and ask all CES 2022 exhibitors which problems impeded the development of their products the most, I’m sure the lack of qualified talent would make it to the top of the list. Is this something that affects you as well? Consider joining forces with a technical partner.
Lemberg Solutions is a one-stop-shop for all your IoT development needs: we provide a full suite of embedded engineering services and have an R&D lab that enables us to make and test prototypes in-house. To get a better sense of the types of projects we have experience with, browse through our IoT case studies and contact me directly on LinkedIn. Or, use the form on our website, and I’ll be happy to schedule a call to tell you more about our services and discuss how we can help you.
