CES 2022 Day 4: Autonomous Rockets and VR Zoom Calls?
The Consumer Technology industry just wrapped up its final day at CES 2022 with a bunch of awesome product launches on the show floor. Here are some of my favorites that I got to check out throughout the day.
The day started with a tour from Moen and their enhanced motion control activated kitchen faucets. If you know anything about Moen, you know that they build innovative smart home faucets with motion sensors. However, today at CES 2022, they showed off an improved version of their already great faucet. Now, you can do more than just turn on and off the top with your hand and voice. By swiping to the right of the faucet, you can tell it to cool down the water, and if you swipe right on the faucet, you can get hot water. You can also just give the faucet a high-five to turn off the water. Additionally, you can customize the exact temperatures of the hot and cold water settings with the Moen app, which is handy. No more telling Alexa what temperature you want the water to be at and dealing with that headache — it’s all built right in. Also, Moen is building redundancy into these systems. Because they don’t have a traditional handle to turn on the water anymore, they know can use batteries placed under the kitchen sink to power the faucet, whereas before they could only be powered via under cabinet AC outlets that you’d need to ask an electrician to install. Now, the user can complete the entire installation by themselves. I’ve been building out my smart home throughout 2021, and I’m so ready to get a smart faucet. These things look amazing and now, they’re super reliable.
After checking out Moen’s booth, we got a chance to look at Sierra Space’s booth. Sierra Space is looking to innovate on space travel, and make transporting cargo and eventually people easier and more reliable with what they call the DreamChaser. Sierra Space says that the reason they called it the DreamChaser is that it’s supposed to inspire people’s dreams, and also make them a reality. Space travel has become difficult over the years and proves to be quite expensive, and Sierra Space hopes to change that, and honestly, it seems quite promising. The spacecraft itself doesn’t have a name quite yet, but it basically looks like a giant jet that can hold a bunch of cargo, and eventually people, according to Sierra Space. It honestly looks super futuristic and I can imagine this being something that people want to ride in. I certainly would. But the design isn’t even close to the coolest part of this newfangled spacecraft. The coolest thing is that this spacecraft can drive itself without any human intervention. It uses cameras and LiDAR around the vehicle like a car, but it’s much more complicated since you’re dealing with space and projectile. But, Sierra Space says they’re able to pull it off. They say that their spacecraft will be able to take you to space in 2026 and currently transports cargo for the ISS. I do think that technology like this can shape millions of lives, and create new jobs. Space travel is the future, and the closest we can get to that now means that it becomes more helpful for future generations. Pretty cool stuff, if you ask me! Now I just need to know how much a ticket to space will cost… maybe someday!
After Sierra Space, I was able to look at Canon’s new awesome VR tech. They’re harnessing the capabilities of VR glasses and headsets, as well as their state-of-the-art cameras to provide a unique experience for digital learning and communication which is becoming increasingly important in this day and age. They call this new tech “Kokomo,” and Canon explains it as an “immersive calling and VR experience.” The thing with current technologies that claim to do this is that they do this by making a virtual avatar for you and then placing that in a made-up virtual world. That’s not what Canon is doing. They’re using the camera to “green screen” you into a virtual space that’s similar to a space that you know. They can then bring other people into the space, and it’s supposed to feel like you’re in a meeting with them. And Canon says all consumers will need is a phone, camera, and headset. The technology does the rest of the work and creates the experience. I thought it was super cool how just with one camera and a VR headset, a person that I saw in real life was in a virtual space that I couldn’t see in real life. Tech like this is genuinely able to change lives and it’s so cool to see this, especially in a pandemic era with virtual meetings alike. Canon says this tech will be available to all of their pre-existing cameras via a software update and an application you can download on your computer and VR headset in the coming years, though they didn’t provide a release date since the tech is in its early phases and they’re still working on it to provide consumers with a unique, safe, and reliable experience, which is nice. Never did I think that Canon of all companies would be the one that would impress me at CES 2022. But here we are. Wow, great work Canon!
I then got to got check out the Hisense booth, where they were showing off their Laser TV projectors, which were genuinely jaw-dropping. Usually, when you think of a projector, you think of a small, washed-out image that’s displayed in front of a wall. You also think that you have to put the projector fairly far away at just the right dumb angle just to get a good enough experience for mediocre contact consumption, like displaying a presentation or something boring like that. You’d never think of them as an actual TV replacement Well, Hisense is trying to change all of that with their super cool projectors. Their laser TV projectors project an image of up to 105 inches large, while just being 2 feet away from the wall. The way they’re able to achieve this amazing feat is by using literal lasers that project onto the wall to deliver a crisp, clear, and color-accurate image that isn’t washed out, even in bright lighting scenarios. Instead of just reflecting an image onto the wall, they’re beaming light onto it which is super cool and creates an HDR picture that honestly looks like a giant TV. Oh, and they also have all the bells and whistle’s that modern TVs have, like high-fidelity speakers, microphones, and all the latest streaming services, mitigating the need for a set-top box which is super handy. They’re also way more affordable than other projectors that project an image this large, which is great for first-time homeowners. Hisense says that these cool, shiny new projectors are available for sale right now for just $5500, which is a great value for such an awesome projector that has a bunch of modern-day features. I’m a huge fan of the cool projector tech we’re seeing at CES 2022, and I can’t wait to check them out in person.
Now that we checked out some smaller, consumer products, I wanted to check out some big industrial products. And what better way to do that than by checking out the new autonomous tractors by John Deere? Now, I know I already covered John Deere’s new tractors in my CES day one coverage in the leftovers section, but I finally got to check them out in their booth, and they look super cool so I can’t help but share them with you. The tractors boast eight cameras on the exterior, and six sensors as well to help them navigate around their surroundings on the field. John Deere says they’re completely autonomous, with no human intervention required whatsoever. You’re just supposed to be able to put them out on the field and let them do their job, which I think is awesome and can lead to more crops and farmers leading better lives which is super important and awesome. John Deere says these tractors can run 24 hours a day, seven days a week as long as they have enough fuel. They also have in-built 4G connectivity to make sure that farmers can keep an eye on the tractor’s progress wherever they are with the mobile app. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, and tell the tractor to complete other tasks when not near a WiFi hotspot — which is common when outside on the field. I’ve genuinely never seen anything like these super cool tractors by John Deere, and I can’t wait for farmers to get them in their hands, and on their fields. John Deere says they’ll retail for $500,000, which I think is a fair price. Now if only these tractors were repairable, but we’ll let that slide for now.
After checking out John Deere, I got to check out Bosch’s new autonomous car technologies. You usually wouldn’t associate Bosch with autonomous car technology, but it seems like every modern-day tech company is venturing into the same place, robots, and autonomy. And that’s exactly what Bosch is doing here. They showed off overarching technologies and products to build a self-driving car, and they showed how they plan to sell the hardware and technologies to clients to build into their cars. Bosch says their goal is that they want to take all the parts for a self-driving car, build them into a giant box, and sell that as a supercomputer that can then be put into every vehicle. They plan on building both industrial solutions, and personalized functions for each company that they work with to provide consumers with the best possible experience. They’re also working on building large displays into the cars as they can show information about the car, and can provide unique experiences for each customer to enrich their lives. It all sounds way too good to be true, but I feel like a company like Bosch, with a lot of resources under their belt is the one to do it. Bosch didn’t give us a timeframe for when these products will be arriving to market or into automakers’ hands, but be sure to look out on the market for self-driving cars that have some pretty unique tech inside, because Bosch is probably the one providing that tech to automotive makers. Cool stuff, Bosch! I can’t wait for these technologies to come to the market and show consumers that autonomous cars are the future and that they’re safe and reliable. Because I think that is the overall direction we’re headed in, and it looks promising already.
Next, we got to check out Climber’s cool tech demos. Climber is a company that specializes in creating strength training workout machines with some pretty cool tech inside of them. Their newest machine specializes in strength training and aerobic exercises, as well as rhythm classes and choreography lessons made by instructors in Denver, CO (those classes are updated every week, Climber said in a press release). All of this stuff is done through the large touchscreen of the machine, and also provides interval formats, strength work, and more. The Machines constantly receive updates, according to Climber, providing new features for customers to enjoy — which is pretty cool and to be expected in this modern age of smart workout equipment. The way the machine works is it starts with an open climb feature to benchmark your performance, and then uses the data it collects from the benchmark workout to tailor custom experiences for you and gradually builds up your strength and stamina. And of course, it has all the modern tech like heart rate monitors, step counters, and more built right into the UI, which is all custom designed by Climber. Climber says it’s not a one-size-fits-all program but instead works with you to provide an engaging workout every day. I think smart, personalized training equipment is nice. I’m not a workout junkie, but if I was, this would be amazing to track my progress and health on my fitness journey and to have a personalized assistant. Climber didn’t tell us anything about pricing or availability yet, but I expect these machines to be out in the wild by next year. They looked pretty polished and ready to go at the demo, but only time will. They look pretty exciting, though!
Last up for the day was the Indie Autonomous Challenge. I’m not going to cover this in too much detail because it is an event that needs to be experienced, but I am going to run down what the event is all about. The Indie Autonomous Challenge is a challenge based on active autonomous race vehicles. The way it works is that all contestants are supplied with a state-of-the-art autonomous race car with all the hardware needed for it to go. The catch is that all the teams need to make their autonomous software that their cars will run to hopefully beat out the other contestants. It’s a really sweet idea, and the race was wonderful — and you should check it out on channel 1 of the CES Digital Portal, or on Twitch. It’s super cool to see how people are harnessing tech and transforming it in new ways. I loved it.
And that about wraps it up for my daily CES 2022 coverage. Now don’t worry, I’m not done yet. I’ll be back tomorrow with a CES leftovers list, where I showcase and talk about some of the coolest things I didn’t get to cover during my daily coverage. But until then, mask up, stay home, and I’ll see ya’ tomorrow.
