Gadgets for a new decade to make your life easier
A flying Uber steals the show as the world’s tech geniuses find solutions for old and new problems.
This week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas — the world’s largest tech conference — has already revealed Wi-Charge, which transmits electricity over the air, along with the Moen kitchen tap that you can command to pour 100ml of water at 60 degrees. We’ve seen a robotic sports umpire and a home security system for travellers.
Here are some gadgets that will revolutionise your life if you need a baby to sleep, have a phobia about bins or want to take your karaoke skills on the road.
Uber in the air
Hyundai announced it would mass-produce flying cars for Uber’s aerial ride-share network set to deploy in 2023 — with Melbourne as one of the pioneering cities for the service.
Melbourne, Dallas and Los Angeles will be the first cities to offer Uber Air flights, with the goal of beginning demonstrator flights this year and commercial operations in 2023.
Hyundai is using CES to show the S-A1 model aircraft with a cruising speed of up to 290km/h.
The aircraft uses “distributed electric propulsion”, designed with multiple rotors that can keep it in the air if one of them fails.
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The smaller rotors also help reduce noise, which the companies say is important to cities.
The Hyundai vehicle initially will be piloted but over time will become autonomous, the company said.
Jaiwon Shin, head of Hyundai’s urban air mobility division, says he expects large-scale manufacturing to keep costs affordable for the aerial systems.
“We know how to mass-produce high-quality vehicles,” he says.
The short-range air taxis will be “affordable for everyone”, he adds.
Eric Allison, head of Uber Elevate, adds: “By taking transportation out of the two-dimensional grid on the ground and moving it into the sky, we can offer significant time savings to our riders.”
Toyota’s Woven City
The Japanese auto giant says it will create a “woven city” on 70ha at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan, powered by hydrogen fuel cells, to test autonomous driving and other technologies.
“Building a complete city from the ground up, even on a small scale like this, is a unique opportunity to develop future technologies, including a digital operating system for the city’s infrastructure,” company president Akio Toyoda says.
He was joined by Danish architect Bjarke Ingels of the Bjarke Ingels Group, which will collaborate on the project.
The city will be designed for about 2000 people, including Toyota employees and visiting researchers, with sustainable construction materials, in-home robotics to assist with daily living and sensor-based AI to check occupants’ health.
Ingels told the news conference the city would have different types of thoroughfares for autonomous vehicles, pedestrians and “micro mobility” vehicles such as scooters and bikes.
The smart homes “will take advantage of full productivity, using … the AI to do things automatically like restocking your fridge or taking out the trash, or even taking care of how healthy you are”, Ingels says.
Motorised bassinets
4Moms demonstrated its motorised baby bassinets and chairs designed to calm and soothe babies. 4Moms has been around for a while; it says its rocking devices have helped more than one million babies to date.
At CES, it won an award for the mamaRoo sleep bassinet, which features five motions: car ride, wave, kangaroo, tree-swing and rock-a-bye. It comes with a range of white noises such as rain, ocean and a fan. Parents can control these settings on the 4Moms smartphone app. Other features include mesh sides for visibility and airflow, the ability to adjust height, and a waterproof mattress. Some might scoff at the idea of having a machine rocking a baby but as 4Moms points out, parents can lose more than six weeks of sleep in their first year with a newborn.
Home video surveillance
Hoop is a video security system that manages family routines. After the household chores are programmed in, Hoop will tell the kids when it’s time to take out the rubbish, walk the dog, or cut the back lawn. The cameras recognise family members and will notify you when they come home. Programming Big Brother to watch a little brother might raise concerns, but Hoop could offer peace of mind that everyone is OK at home. Two camera models, Hoop Cam and Hoop Cam Plus, offer 350-degree panning and 45-degree tilt capabilities.
Trashing germs
Townew is the device for you if you hate handling rubbish. The Townew is claimed to be the world’s first rubbish tidy that seals and changes the internal plastic liner bag for you. At this
stage it’s for the US only. The Townew features self-sealing technology and uses bags with a 15.5-litre capacity and a rechargeable battery. Townew says you only have to hold a touch button, and grab the rubbish bag once the sealing is complete. The lid will close and automatically pull a new bag in place. But you will have to buy Townew’s rubbish bags.
Karaoke on the road
If you like to sing in the car, then Carkit AI’s Roxie is the way to go. Recreate the spirit of National Lampoon’s Vacation and have the whole family singing along on the highway. Roxie is plugged into the cigarette lighter socket. A long-range ambient microphone mounts on the dash and the music comes via an app. Carkit AI says every occupant can have fun singing solos, duets or group songs. You can queue music from Spotify and Apple Music, among others.
Rolling robot
Samsung unveiled its rolling robot ball, named Ballie, which tracks its owner around the home.
The ankle-high robot was designed as a “life companion” and fits into the company’s vision of “human-centred” artificial intelligence.
Sebastian Seung, chief research scientist at Samsung Electronics, described the tiny robot as a fitness assistant and a mobile interface to help people in various situations.
The artificial intelligence companion has a camera that can record and send video.
“It’s a remote control that helps seniors control all the smart devices in the home, and calls for help if they need it,” Seung says.
The South Korean consumer electronics giant also showed a “Sero” television that can pivot from portrait to landscape modes the way smartphones or tablets do in an appeal to generations raised with mobile internet viewing habits. The Sero, which means “vertical” in Korean, debuted in South Korea last year but will be available in other countries this year.
Water from air
Zero Mass Water’s system harvests drinking water from the air. Two “hydroponic” panels sit on your roof like solar panels, producing up to 600 standard bottles of water per month from sunlight and air.
The amount harvested depends on temperature and humidity but ZMW is confident you’ll get water even with low to medium sun and humidity. The system costs $US6000 ($8642) to $US6500 and lasts up to 15 years.
Solo studio
Fancy being a vlogger, social media star or citizen journalist? StreamGear displayed two device-mounting units that let you attach a camera and smartphone and operate both simultaneously. You can plug in and operate external microphones and capture an external HDMI video source into an iOS and Android device and stream it. StreamGear says a single operator can produce multi-source, TV-style shows that can be streamed, recorded or both. An app provides a production toolkit that lets a user be a director, operator and on-screen talent all at once. Users can switch between six customisable scene layouts that mix live video and audio sources.
Lynq Locator
Australia’s horrific bushfires have shown us how vulnerable our communication systems are with mobile phone coverage obliterated in many areas. However there are localised digital communication systems you can install yourself. Two years ago we reviewed the goTenna system that lets you create an outdoor mesh network and text them from several kilometres away, depending on terrain. Lynq Locator similarly lets you independently keep in touch with up to 12 friends on the ski slopes, at music festivals and hikes. You can see their direction and distance and send some basic messages to one another. You don’t need a phone.
GaN chargers
In 2020 phone and laptop chargers will become small and lightweight as Gallium Nitride or GaN chargers come to market. A plug the size and weight of one that charged a small phone will now charge a 60 or 100 watt device.
At CES, Aukey announced that its chargers will come to market in Q2. It’s small Omnia series will offer fast charging and will charge the MacBook Pro 2018, Dell XPS 13, iPad Pro, iPhone (multiple models), Google Pixel devices, Nintendo Switch and more. One plug can charge multiple devices. Belkin too is showing off GaN chargers with 30W, 60W and 68W chargers coming to market. Some models have two USB-C for charging two devices at once.
Alogic
Do you like the idea of carrying fewer devices around? Alogic has devices that double as battery chargers and adaptors. The Dock Wave 3-in-1 comprises first a 5000 milliampere hour battery for charging on the go. You can cut the cable and place your target device on top of the Dock Wave and charge it at five watts if it is wireless-charging capable. The Dock Wave also offers connectivity around its edges: 4K HDMI, two USB-A ports, support for SD and micro SD card readers and one USB-C port with 60W power delivery. It’s the one device you should pack with your laptop.
Additional reporting:
AFP, AP