13 Weirdest Gadgets at CES 2018
Wackiest Tech Coming Your Way
LAS VEGAS — You see a lot of gadgets and gizmos when you walk the sprawling show floor at CES. Some of those products are wonderful, some of them are weird and more than a few are a combination of both.
From self-driving luggage to a laundry-folding robot, these oddball products caught our eye at this year's edition of the massive trade show. And, as it turns out, some of these products might just be crazy enough to work.
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Rocking Bed
If this bed is a-rockin', then … well, it's working as it was designed, actually. Inventor Mark Russell told us he came up with the idea for the bed — which sways rhythmically back and forth — on a cruise, where the rolling ocean helped him sleep soundly at night. It's easy to scoff at it — until you lie down on the Rocking Bed and relax, to the point where you're drifting off to dreamland in the middle of a crowded show floor. The Rocking Bed is taking orders now for $2,495, and an associated Indiegogo campaign will launch soon.
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CX-1 self-driving luggage
Yes, you read that right. The CX-1 carry-on from ForwardX Robotics uses a combination of facial recognition, auto-follow capabilities and object avoidance to follow you around the airport. That way, you can keep your hands free. There's also an anti-theft wristband that will set off an alarm signal if the CX-1 goes out of range. And, of course, this luggage will charge your other gadgets. — Mark Spoonauer
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FoldiMate/Laundroid
The battle of laundry-folding robots is not the showdown we were asking for, but maybe it's the showdown we deserve. Laundroid, of course, is no stranger to CES, and it's going to begin a pilot program in which people have a chance to pay $16,000 for a 7.2 x 2.9 x 2.1-foot cabinet containing robot arms that can fold just about anything. (Exceptions include things with buttons and socks. You try teaching robot arms how to pair up socks).
FoldiMate is the upstart in this space. While the 3.9-foot $980 laundry-folding machine is more compact and less expensive than Laundroid's offering, it's also less sophisticated. With FoldiMate, you've got to feed in the clothes instead of just leaving them in a drawer for Laundroid to handle by itself. Also, FoldiMate will not ship until 2019, which means that a lot of laundry could pile up between now and then.
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Polaroid OneStep 2
One of the busiest corners of a show highlighting the latest and greatest technology was, surprisingly, dedicated to the hottest technology that 1977 had to offer. Polaroid actually introduced the OneStep 2 back in September to mark the brand's 80th anniversary, but this was the first CES in a long while to feature the analog instant camera. Along with the $99 OneStep 2, Polaroid showed off various instant films and brightly colored camera designs it's planning to release soon. We can't wait until future CES shows, so that mobile-phone makers can unveil that hot new rotary phone that everyone's clamoring for.
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Grunluft
Robot vacuums are handy additions to any home, but who needs all that movement? After all, the robot might start to get ideas. We can only assume this was the thinking behind Grunluft's Sensor Vacuum Dustbin, which certainly sucks in debris, but only after you push it there with a broom. Think of it as a Roomba that would rather stay in one place and have you tackle 95 percent of the job.
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Litter-Robot
Now here's a robot that doesn't leave the hard work to someone else. Litter-Robot looks like one of the escape pods from 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it's actually a litter box where your cat can do some escaping of an entirely different nature. Once your cat exits the box — Litter Robot can sense changes in weight — this self-cleaning litter box starts to rotate 234 degrees. Clean litter is collected behind a grate, while clumps fall into a trapdoor. Litter-Robot has been around for a while, but this year, the company released a $500 Wi-Fi-enabled version, which can send an alert to your phone when the trapdoor area is full. That's a notification we'd have mixed feelings about.
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Somnox
Hey, we like Somnox enough to give it a Best of Show award. But there's no denying it: A pillow that mimics human breathing, so that you can cuddle with it at night to sleep better, is just a little bit weird. At $549, Somnox is also more than a little bit pricey. Still, even just holding the cloth pillow for a little bit was oddly relaxing. Throw in a Rocking Bed, and we might just sleep for days.
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"Elucidator" katana
If you've ever wanted to swing a very realistic magic sword around, this product is made for you. A full-size replica of the main sword in the popular Japanese novel series "Sword Art Online," the Elucidator features more than 2,000 LEDs, a six-axis sensor and Wi-Fi connectivity with your phone. As you move the katana around, it makes clanging noises, and the lights sparkle. A voice command makes the sword turn blue, while the connection allows it to output sound through your speakers. If you want to swing this weapon around, you'll have to swing its $600-to-$900 price, too.
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E-vone smart shoes
These boots were made for more than just walking. E-vone's smart shoes come with a host of sensors — an accelerometer, a gyroscope and a pressure system, to name a few — that can detect when the person wearing the shoes has taken an unexpected fall. That makes E-vone's shoes potentially helpful for both elderly customers who live alone and active hikers and climbers whose adventures take them to remote locales. At $150, the shoes are pretty pricey, though, and even Air Jordans never came with their own monthly service fees for network connectivity.
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Touchpoint
Touchpoint calls its pair of wearable gadgets "science," but it seems more like a distraction to us. You strap one device to each wrist, and they vibrate to relieve stress. (Touchpoint calls this "bilateral alternating stimulation.") In a demo, I found it more of a diversion than anything that would truly clear my mind, and $240 is a lot to bank on that.
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Zocus
There's a clever idea behind Zocus: Put in 30 minutes of highly focused work, followed by 5 minutes of quality breaks, and you'll be more productive. The tower-like Zocus smart timer enforces this fractional work approach by disabling your smartphone notifications when you're supposed to be focusing and shining a red light to let co-workers know you're not to be disturbed. If $99 doesn't seem like a lot to pay for enforced discipline, you can let Zocus manage your daily routine when it arrives in April.
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Xperia Hello
If you've ever seen a smart speaker from Amazon or Google and thought, "That's practical, but why doesn't it look like a cast member from Wall-E?” then you would have been in seventh heaven when Sony's Kazuo Hirai showed off the Xperia Hello during his company's CES press event. Sony gave its smart speaker a rotating head, adorned by two vertical strips of light. Because that head also includes a camera, Xperia Hello can recognize you by sight and give you personalized messages — which is helpful, and also creepy. Sony says this robot is staying in Japan, but then again, we heard the same thing about Godzilla.
Credit: Sony
NuCalm
Who knew that getting some rest could be so complicated? NuCalm promises 2 hours' worth of sleep packed into a 20-minute power nap, but it's hard to relax when you're covered in creams and electrodes. You put on the "topical calming cream," attach yourself to electrodes that go to NuCalm's machine, lie down in a chair, put on headphones with calming music and put on a sleep mask. At least one writer felt the shocks, and two Tom's Guide staffers felt a little disoriented afterward. The whole thing is $4,300, so it's a big investment for a powerful nap, even if it works for you.
Credit: NuCalm