LAS VEGAS — A robot that can fetch toilet paper when you’re stranded on the loo and services to keep track of the elderly from afar were among the technologies showcased this week at the annual CES gadget show in Las Vegas.
The annual technology conference is the place for big brands and startups alike to unveil their products and services for the coming year, though larger companies such as Apple, Google and Microsoft typically hold their own announcement events. Streaming services and surveillance technologies are among the hot topics. The show formally opens Tuesday following two days of media previews.
Here are some highlights:
ROBOT FOR THE LOO
Charmin wants to solve a familiar feeling: being stranded on the toilet with an empty toilet paper roll.
Its solution: a two-wheeled robot that can fetch a fresh roll. The robot, around 6-inches tall, has the face of a bear — like the cartoon ones in Charmin’s commercials — and toilet paper sitting on top.
But don’t expect it to roll to your bathroom anytime soon. Procter & Gamble, the company that owns Charmin, said the robot won’t be for sale and was just an example of what’s possible.
“Car companies have concept cars, but P&G has concept bathrooms,” said Marc Pritchard, who oversees Procter & Gamble’s brands.
The company didn’t have a working robot available at a press conference Sunday, though executives say one will be demonstrated when the show floor opens Tuesday.
SENSING WATER LEAKS
New sensors promise to stop water leaks before they ruin your home.
Monitors from Alarm.com and Flo Technologies connect to homes’ water lines and track usage. If the systems sense more water than usual is flowing through the pipes, they send an alert through their apps — after all, it could just be a long shower. But if something really seems off kilter, the monitors will automatically shut off water.
Flo used CES to launch its newest sensor, a raindrop-shaped device that looks like a smoke alarm and can detect any water or moisture when attached to toilets, washers or other leak-prone areas. Each detector costs $50.
Another option, Phyn, makes a $299 device that hooks up to the pipes under a sink and measures changes in water pressure.
TRACKING THE ELDERLY
What are your grandparents up to? Startups are pitching a way to keep an eye on the elderly from afar.
The new sensors can tell if a loved one has moved around and eaten — for instance, by detecting when the fridge is opened.
The efforts come as the U.S. government expects adults over 65 to outnumber children for the first time by 2034.
“We want to enable loved ones to live on their own,” said Ryan Herd, founder of Caregiver Smart Solutions.
Caregiver’s sensors tracks the elderly through motion detection, though the product can also tell if someone has showered by measuring humidity. Another company, CarePredict, has a wrist-worn device that can detect falls and alert caregivers. It also tracks how much the person has moved around and what rooms they’re spending most of their time in.
Tracking isn’t cheap. CarePredict’s device, for instance, costs $450, plus a $70 monthly fee.
Neither company uses cameras, so you’ll need something else if you want to peer into your grandparents’ homes. Just keep in mind that if you can check video on an app, so might a skilled hacker.
GADGETS FOR YOUR EAR
Nearly 67 million wireless earbuds are expected to be sold this year, according to projections by organizers of this week’s CES gadget show in Las Vegas. That’s up 35% from 2019, making it one of the fastest-growing categories in consumer tech.
According to the organizers, the Consumer Technology Association, much of the growth will come from Apple’s AirPods and Samsung’s Galaxy Buds, both of which play music and take calls without any wires. But others are vying for your ear canal, too. Amazon started selling its own buds late last year, and Microsoft plans to have one in 2020.
Also popular: smartwatches, fitness trackers and other devices that track and monitor your health. The CTA expects 64 million health devices to be sold this year, the first time the group has counted the category.
Smartphones and TVs will see slower growth. Both are expected to rise just 2%.
Overall, revenue in the U.S. consumer tech industry is expected to grow 4% to $422 billion, the CTA said. But the group warned that its numbers could change significantly if the trade war with China escalates or if tariffs are expanded. Much of the world’s electronics are put together in China, and the CTA has said that steeper tariffs could hurt the industry by making gadgets more expensive for consumers.
SURVEILLANCE IS IN
From the face scanner that will check in some attendees to the cameras-everywhere array of digital products, the CES gadget show is all-in on surveillance technology — whether it calls it that or not.
Nestled in the “smart home” and “smart city” showrooms at the sprawling Las Vegas consumer tech conference are devices that see, hear and track the people they encounter. Some of them also analyze their looks and behavior. The technology on display includes eyelid-tracking car dashboard cameras to prevent distracted driving and “rapid DNA” kits for identifying a person from a cheek swab sample.
All these talking speakers, doorbell cameras and fitness trackers come with the promise of making life easier or more fun, but they’re also potentially powerful spying tools. And the skeptics who raise privacy and security concerns can be easily drowned out in the flashy spectacle of gee-whiz technology.
“Many, many horrible stories have come out of consumer electronics,” said Cindy Cohn, executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who is speaking on a CES panel about the future of internet-connected devices. “It’s often about hyping the next thing you can buy and not considering the trade-offs.”
CES runs Tuesday to Friday after two days of media previews. The annual showcase is where big companies and startups unveil and promote their latest gadgets, many of them infused with microphones, cameras and artificial intelligence. Though weighted toward the consumer market, much of what’s on display may also be useful to law enforcement, not to mention prying employers or heavy-handed governments.
Marcus Yang, CEO of the camera startup Amaryllo, said he’s had a difficult time persuading customers to pay more for safeguards such as faster processors to enable end-to-end encryption, when an array of cheaper, but less secure options are available.
CES attendees “want to see technology and something fresh,” Yang said. “They’re only interested in looking at your cameras and what kind of features they have.”
Yang said he’s hopeful that “something is changing this year” after a series of privacy scandals and security breaches has brought attention to the dangers of unfettered surveillance technology. And eventually, he said, regulators are likely to step in with security requirements.
Amazon’s security camera division Ring, which is setting up a “Ring House” to show off its home devices, has recently had to defend its safety practices following reports of hackers breaking into Ring camera systems and harassing children. It’s also faced criticism from privacy advocates and U.S. lawmakers over its growing partnerships with police.
Ring competitor Wyze Labs, an honoree in the CES 2020 innovation awards, announced a data breach just after Christmas affecting 2.4 million customers. And widely used voice assistants made by Google, Amazon and Apple all came under scrutiny in 2019 for data retention practices that allowed employees and contractors to listen to users’ audio recordings.
There’s been some push back, at least on facial recognition and other surveillance technology from China. Hikvision and iFlytek, two Chinese tech companies that showed off their artificial intelligence at CES 2019, now face U.S. export restrictions because the Trump administration says the technology has been used in the repression of China’s Muslims.
But China isn’t the only place where the lines have blurred between consumer technology and government surveillance operations. Watchful residents of American neighborhoods are increasingly encouraged by Ring to share their doorbell video footage with police detectives. And device-makers are counting on consumers buying into ever-more elaborate forms of computer vision and other AI technology to give them peace of mind.
Camera-maker Arlo this week launched its first wireless floodlight camera, with night vision, a siren, two-way audio to converse with intruders and an ambient light sensor to automatically adjust its brightness. Another company, Sunflower Labs, is using CES to show off its “home drone security” system. If trespassers step onto your lawn, a camera-equipped drone flies out from its resting place to take a look at them and streams the live video to your phone.
Sound like something that might guard the lair of a James Bond villain? CEO Alex Pachikov says it’s actually less intrusive to neighbors than your run-of-the-mill doorbell camera, because it’s only looking down at your own property.
Serious talk about privacy protections and regulations isn’t completely absent at CES. The schedule includes panel talks connecting policymakers with privacy executives from companies like Apple and Facebook.
Venture capitalist Rajeev Chand, who is moderating one of those panels, said tech companies are getting better at seeing themselves as custodians, not the owners, of user data, but much more needs to be done.
“We are probably at the first or second inning for how privacy re-shapes the consumer tech industry,” said Chand, a partner and head of research at Wing Venture Capital.
But even as some U.S. policymakers seek to restrict or ban facial recognition, the conference is getting its attendees more accustomed to everyday uses of surveillance technology in commercial and security settings.
Attendees at the gadget show can use their face to pick up their event badges for the first time.
“We’re experimenting with it,” said Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, which organizes CES.
He dismissed privacy concerns, saying that attendees have a choice.
“You’re opting in,” he said. “If you want to do it, you’ll have an opportunity to do it.”
Cohn, of EFF, said she plans to skip the face scanners because she doesn’t know who has control over the images they collect. She said there’s only so much that consumers can do to guard against misuse.
“There is a risk treating this as an individual decision,” she said. “That’s not really fair or right to do to people. We need to fix the policies.”
