CES 2025: Robot bartenders, flying cars, automatic cats and dogs headline the tech fest

CES, the annual gathering for tech executives in Las Vegas, has always been a must-see for gadget lovers — and 2024 is no exception. There are robo-vacuums and robo-lawn mowers. There are super fast phone chargers that look like dryers. And of course, there are robot dogs – some of them fluffy and cuddly, and some with scary, radar-rolling faces. Here’s a roundup of this week’s latest hits.

Barkeep, I’ll have a double

ADAM, a robot bartender with an uncanny resemblance to Baymax from Disney’s “Big Hero 6,” has been making waves this week as it uses claw-shaped arms to toss highballs to CES patrons.

Among ADAM’s clients this week have been Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang — who had fun mimicking the robot’s arm gestures in his black leather jacket — and Jim Cramer, host of CNBC’s “Mad Money.”

Cramer took an indeterminate electric-green concoction over ice, took a sip, and responded with an approving, “Cheers! Thanks, ADAM!”

Debuted at CES 2024 by Richtech Robotics, ADAM can also brew coffee and even chat with customers – although at this stage the joke seems to be a little tougher than its wings.

“I’m ADAM, your friendly robot bartender. Let’s get caffeine!” the robot greeted a patron. “Did you know I can make over 50 kinds of drinks?”

“Feeling adventurous? I can create something special for you,” ADAM told another. “Let me get you that perfect drink.”

Flying into the future

It’s time to load the kids into the van and head out of town – for a family flying car weekend.

China-based Xpeng AeroHT debuted a six-wheeled minivan that acts as a “Ground Aircraft Carrier” for a modular flying car that rotates from the back and can be loaded and returned home for recharging.

The three-axle vehicle, whose sharply angled body looks like a boxy version of a Tesla Cybertruck — carries an electric vertical take-off and landing vehicle, or eVTOL — essentially a massive drone with six propellers that can carry a passenger human.

The 21st century take on the Winnebago will retail for a low price of $280,000. Since its first prototype flight in 2024, the company has received more than 2,000 pre-orders.

Reviving in the sun

The Aptera – a three-wheeled electric tow vehicle equipped with Lamborghini-style scissor doors – uses the sun to provide a full charge with an advertised range of up to 40 miles.

With solar panels embedded in its teardrop-shaped body, the makers of the Aptera claim it can provide 11,000 miles a year of free driving without having to wait at a gas station or charging station – or worry about your environmental footprint, for that matter matter. .

However, the company was unclear about driving on cloudy days or on expressways. Did we mention it looks really cool?

Barking up the right tree

Tombot Inc.’s hyper-realistic dog robots. can manage an impressive canine appearance – complete with a tilted head and raised ears. Designed to provide comfort for older adults with dementia while “reducing the need for psychotropic medications,” the Labrador Retriever figures can wag their tails, pant and make a variety of cute puppy sounds, from growling to barking

However, Tombots, which cost about $300, are really lapdogs — as in, they can’t walk, jump or climb. So owners will have to pick them up and move them from couch to couch to bed and back. Work!

On the other end of the spectrum, Unitree’s Go2 robot dog can run, jump, climb stairs, and even hold hands and jump on various tools. The tricks are impressive, even for a dog bot with a suggested retail price of $1,600.

However, the shiny aluminum quadruped, powered by AI, is anything but nice. While Go2 appears to be a companion, its face is occupied by a rotating Lidar sensor that – in addition to helping Go2 navigate a path through the forest – also looks like a mean rotating meat grinder.

The purr-fect gift

LG’s AeroCatTower is for fuzzy cat owners who insist on impeccable air quality – and who also prefer not to have a large, otherwise useless air-purifying tower in their living room.

In short, it’s an air purifier that works like a cat tree, with a heated seat on top and climbing steps that can help older cats climb up. The cleaner emits fresh air at a slower rate when a pet climbs onto the seat to avoid disturbing any cat snooze.

While this is nice, it can also raise questions about how complete the device really is. However, the AeroCatTower can clean pet dander and measure your pet’s weight at the same time – making it a 3-in-1 device. No price or release date yet.

Even more hissing is Yukai Engineering’s Nékojita FuFu – a mini cat-shaped robot that grabs onto the rims of hot tea cups and soup glasses – and blows on them to cool them.

The portable, rechargeable device has an internal fan that pushes cold air through a small nozzle to cool a steaming cup of joe to 30 degrees in three minutes — about six times faster than letting it sit outside. It’s expected to launch sometime in mid-2025 and costs about $25 — a bargain compared to heat-reducing coffee mugs that cost $70.

Charging stations

Swippitt unveiled a fast wireless charging system that swaps your phone’s depleted battery for a fully charged one in a mind-boggling two seconds.

There are a few catches. 1) The thing is the size of a toaster, and looks like one, too. 2) It requires you to put your phone inside a battery case which is a bulky looking box that sits on top of the phone. 3) “Recharge” means the machine closes the case.

Still, with the ability to store five spare cases, there’s some appeal to tossing your phone in the toaster on your way out the door in the morning and grabbing it with a fresh change of clothes. The toaster is $450 and the boxes are $120.

Robo-cops – for your home and lawn

Robot vacuums are more advanced than ever, but recent iterations have some notable limitations to the new tricks they tout.

Roborock’s Saros Z70 is the first mass-produced robovac with a five-axis folding mechanical arm that can move obstacles out of the way, clean previously hard-to-reach spots, trash fabrics and turn socks back in the closet.

But the robot is irritatingly slow – it takes about a minute just to pick up a single sock. Pricing is not yet known, but they are expected to ship by June.

Dreame’s x50 Ultra Robovac boasts that it can climb stairs — that is, if the stairs are two inches high. It retails for $1,300 on pre-order – putting it at the top of the robovac price range with a pretty useless perk as a tag.

Meanwhile, the Segway Navimow X3 Series is a small, flat, circular bot with wheels. But instead of vacuuming your floor, it mows your lawn outside, using artificial intelligence to create a 3D map of it.

Customers can mark out-of-bounds areas in the Navimow app. It will likely cost upwards of $3,000 — the cost of previous models and about the price of a lawn mower. Unlike traditional mowers, the latest Navimow is quiet – so no more headaches.

Unless, of course, someone tries to make off with the portable. It comes with burglar alarms and a GPS tracker just in case.