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This year will be filled with robots that can fold your laundry, pick up objects and climb stairs, fridges that you can command to open by voice, laptops with screens that can follow you around the room on motorised hinges and the reimagining of the BlackBerry phone.
Those are the predictions from the annual CES tech show in Las Vegas that took place this week. The sprawling event aims to showcase cutting-edge technology developed by startups and big brands.
Many of these fancy developments will be available to actually buy, moving from outlandish concepts to production devices, although some are still limited to costly prototypes.
Humanoid robots march ever closer to reality
The rise of the humanoid robot continues, with the show floor filled with myriad prototypes, some of which operated autonomously rather than being remotely controlled or performing set routines this year.
Not one but two different robots promised to do your laundry, make breakfast and serve drinks. In demos LG’s CLOiD home robot, which is reportedly due to undergo real-world testing next year, looked like a disembodied torso on a rolling platform, slowly and autonomously doing chores linked with various LG kitchen appliances.
The Chinese company Switchbot’s Onero H1, however, looks more like a security bot crossed with a robot vacuum with articulating arms ready to do chores. The company says it should go on sale later this year for an undisclosed sum. It joined impressive demos from many other Chinese robotics outfits, including Unitree, Booster Robotics and X-Humanoid, the recent winner of Beijing’s humanoid robot half-marathon.
This also promises to be that year that Boston Dynamics’ long-tested Atlas robot finally goes from awkward prototype to polished product, with a new design unveiled during the parent company Hyundai’s CES show.
The South Korean firm is partnering with Google’s DeepMind for robotic AI research and plans to deploy the Atlas robots, which are water resistant, can lift 50kg and automatically swap their batteries, to its manufacturing plants in the next couple of years.
Robot vacuums that can finally climb stairs
Robot vacuums are the more prevalent home robot for now, but even they have new tricks. Dreame’s Cyber10 Ultra arm-equipped robovac can lift up to 500g and use brushes and other nozzles while cleaning your floors. It will reportedly go on sale around August for about €1,800 (£1,560), although it was the company’s Cyber X concept with four legs and tank-like tracks that had attenders captivated because it might help it finally vanquish the mortal enemy of robot vacuums: climbing stairs.
However, if actually cleaning the stairs is the goal, Roborock’s first two-wheel-leg robovac might be better. The Saros Rover is in development, shown off in prototype form, and can raise, lower and jump its way to each step, cleaning as it goes.
Voice-controlled fridges
Not even the humble fridge was safe this year from the march of robotics. Samsung debuted its new Family Hub fridge, which includes a screen on the front but its party piece is voice-controlled doors you can open and close hands-free.
Less novel but potentially just as useful, GE built a barcode scanner into its new Profile fridge, which is designed to scan things as you discard them to automatically add them to a shopping list ready for when you need it. A camera inside the fridge lets you check remotely to see if anything’s finished or rotten.
Unrolling and motorised laptops
Scores of new laptops were on show from all the major manufacturers including Acer, Dell, Samsung and others. But Lenovo’s Legion Pro Rollable concept was the start of the show: a regular-looking 16in laptop with a OLED screen that unrolls horizontally to a full-size 24in monitor for gaming and productivity on the go. Meanwhile, the company’s new ThinkPad Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist is going from concept to actual product with a motorised rotating hinge that automatically turns the screen to face you or your audience if you are presenting.
Folding phones and the return of the Blackberry
Samsung used CES to show off its cutting-edge trifolding flexible screen Android phone-tablet hybrid, which takes the book-style folding design and adds another section that unfolds again like a pamphlet to reveal a large wide-screen tablet. Having gone on sale in South Korea just before the end of 2025 the Galaxy Z TriFold is expected to reach the US and other markets in the first half of this year for a big sum.
But for those who long for the days of physical keyboards on phones, the accessory company Clicks is bringing back the BlackBerry with its new Communicator: an Android phone with a physical keyboard. Designed as a “communication companion” with custom software that puts messaging above doomscrolling on social media, the Communicator can be used as a primary phone or as a partner to your existing iPhone or Android. It has a notification LED around the power button and a fingerprint scanner in the space bar. Reservations are open and the phone is due to ship later this year.
Clicks already sells keyboard cases for the iPhone, Pixel and other devices for those that don’t want to replace their phone completely with a BlackBerry. But it also had a new slide-out keyboard Bluetooth that doubles as a magnetic wireless charging battery pack on show at CES. The Power Keyboard magnetically sticks to the back of the phone and will be compatible with iPhones and Androids supporting Qi2, shipping in the spring.
