Published with Video edition: January 16, 2026                ID: TBW2130

Analyst(s): Dr. Doreen Galli

Photojournalist(s): Dr. Doreen Galli

December 27 Computer Talk Radio Broadcast

January 10 Computer Talk Radio Broadcast

January 13 Computer Talk Radio Broadcast

ABSTRACT

CES brought together over 148,000 attendees and 4100 exhibitors in Las Vegas. TBW Advisors LLC captured over 152 videos including 6 live streams spanning the event and locations. TBW Advisors also prepared twelve Whisper Reports for deeper analysis on emerging technologies from CES 2026. Press briefings revealed major trends, including AI adoption and global tech market projections for 2026. Captivating exhibits showcased robotics, smart home innovations, health tech, and cutting-edge enterprise solutions across multiple venues.

The Conference

• A community of 148,000+ attendees gathered in Las Vegas across venues to attend CES 2026. Over 4100 exhibitors were featured.

Cautions

• Just because something works and is convenient doesn’t mean your privacy is protected. In 2026, even paying for a product is no guarantee that you and your data are not also the product.
• Friendly reminder: this research provides examples of what was shared with us at the event, not an evaluation, validation, or recommendation of the given technology.

Conference Vibe

After 152 videos including 6 live streams over 75 fact checks, our coverage of CES 2026 closes. CES 2026 featured over 148k+ attendees including 6900 media, and 4100 exhibitors. Registration and badge pick up occurs across all of Las Vegas from the airport to all of the hotels. Likewise, CES spans all of Las Vegas. Mandalay Bay hosts the press events on Sunday and Monday. Unveiled is also held at Mandalay Bay at the end of Sunday. Aria host media innovations much like what is shared at the NAB Show here in Las Vegas every spring.

Venetian is home to Eureka Park downstairs. Eureka park features country pavilions so one can metaphorically travel around the world to see how tech is advancing globally. The second floor at the Venetian hosts many sessions and vendor suites. Venetian Expo Hall hosts Health and lifestyle; enjoy our walkabout. Additional coverage on Health tech can be found in our coverage of HIMSS 25 and upcoming coverage in 2026. Each location also hosts its own eateries with the Venetian featuring the Cafe and the Bistro.

The newly finished Las Vegas Convention Center was absolutely shining for CES 2026. Everything BUT south Upper was leveraged for the event. West Hall featured auto and EVTOLs (electric vertical take of and landing) and related suppliers. West Hall also features it own extensive eatery. One can walk from West Hall to North or take the Vegas Loop ride to Central or South Halls. North Las Vegas Convention Center was also known as Robot Hall with enterprise AI in abundance.  North Hall also featured its own in hall eatery. Outside of North Hall enroute to Central Hall there is another massive food court. Central Hall itself hosted smart tech and a lot of the major brands you recognize at home. Now that construction has completed, one can walk from Central Hall to South Hall indoors! Design and source exhibitors were featured at South Hall which also had its very own eatery.

We always try to bring you fresh vendors in our coverage. That said, you will recognize many brands in the walkabout from our coverage of CES 2025, CES 2024, or even CES 2020. In fact, we spotted vendors from every nearly every event we covered in Vegas during 2025.

We once again live streamed from on site. We successfully livestreamed on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Specifically, I requested assistance on your favorite videos for my two segments on the January 10, 2026 syndicated broadcast edition of Computer Talk Radio. Note we also discussed CES prepping on December 27, 2025, with additional coverage of CES during the January 17, 2026 edition.

While on site, we conducted research for twelve additional forthcoming Whisper Reports for our clients. The playlists are unlisted but available with the video version to be distributed first via YouTube Whisper Club upper tier membership area on our YouTube Channel.

Spatial Computing (XR)

1. Whisper Report: What XR tech will change enterprise workflows first?  

2. Whisper Report: Which spatial computing use case will scale fastest?  

3. Whisper Rerpot: What’s the killer XR use case no one sees coming?

Smart Home / IoT

4. Whisper Report: What’s the biggest IoT security blind spot today?

5. Whisper Report: What IoT innovation will redefine smart living in 2026?  

6. Whisper Report: Which connected device will drive the next big shift?

Health Tech / Med AI

7. Whisper Report: What AI breakthrough will transform patient care next?  

8. Whisper Report: Which health tech will cut costs without cutting quality?  

9. Whisper Report: When will AI in health beat human diagnosis?

Robotics / Automation

10. Whisper Report: What robotics advance will reshape manufacturing first?  

11. Whisper Report: Which automation trend will hit enterprise hardest?  

12. Whisper Report: What’s the hardest problem in robotics no one solved?

Readers and viewers wishing to experience or should we say re-experience the entire event are encouraged to view the Conference Whispers: CES 2026 Playlist in its entirety. The playlist will be sited in the end screen, description, and as a pinned comment of the video edition. The video edition will conclude with gratitude towards those that contributed. Specifically, a montage of responses to the Bonus Question, “What’s the best part about attending the CES 2026 live in Las Vegas?”.

Press Briefings

At CES, Press coverage starts two days earlier than CES itself. Commencing on Sunday, we frequently begin coverage at Jetro’s Launch It run by Showstoppers. The event kicked-off with a welcome from its leader Mia Kwanda. Each presenter has 5 minutes to present to the press and investors and make their impression. The session featured Swipe, a technology to embed videos that enables viewers to select any of 360 degrees to watch the event. Perhaps seeing everything from any angle is just not enough particularly when it comes to your favorite Anime. Perhaps you wish you could virtually give your favorite character a hug? Then Gakugeki out of Japan just made your dreams come true! Expect to see the tech at your favorite theme park next summer! While greetings your favorite character may send you to the moon with joy, some companies find they want to test in microgravity. The challenge is the wait for time and expense for the ISS Space station for testing. Alternatively, one can get 45 seconds of microgravity from a Jet but that time is just too sparse for any real testing. Meet Innovative Space Carrier ready to provide affordable, autonomous, microgravity laboratories to meet your needs.

Coming back down to earth, maybe you just want an avatar BUT don’t want to spend hours creating one? Pocket RD presented their quick avatars solution ready to deliver in minutes. Just needing some privacy? Maybe so you can hold a sensitive topic meeting despite crowded shared office space? Verne Technologies believes they have the solution that will take off in their auditor privacy providing device. Office not crowded yet as you still need to hire workers but are afraid of AI cheating during the process?  AI Proctor is designed to spot and stop cheating during interviews or exams. Not worried about cheating but want a co-pilot to assist in your k-12 workday – even if you are a counsellor? Wiillow may be just what you were looking for. Want to leverage your 3d printer to realize your design idea but can’t get from English to Parts to print? Great news,  tokoshie had you in mind when they created their product.

After Jetro, CTA, the organization that runs CES, provides a massive press briefing on the state of the industry and the most recent data. The CTA Tech Trends video is a frequently high-flyers on our channel.  Major takeaways include that the global tech and durables market is projected to reach 1.3 trillion US dollars by end of 2026. The US Consumer tech industry revenue is projected to reach 565 billion US dollars in 2026. Finally, awareness of AI exceeded 90% in European, Korean and US markets and more than 40% of people in every country used AI at work. US led the way with 63% of workers leveraging AI estimating 8.7 hours a week saved. If you have not yet enjoyed it – you will want to create a time block to watch CTA Tech Trends 2026.

Monday is another full press day. We stuck to the niche Power Sessions run by Show Stoppers, enabling us to bring you content not found anywhere else. The first session was a rather clever approach to quality control in manufacturing. Specializing in those areas still left to manual inspection due a combination of materials used and shading, Bucket Robotics goes straight from the CAD file’s .step file to quality control. No massive image capture and loading and training. Simply one machine file talking to another application. Bucket Robotics solution itself evaluates the CAD file and can accurately infer what parts match the computer design. It’s as if providing the .step file is a short cut to human intuition, or should we say in providing machine intuition?

The next session asked the question Apple doesn’t want anyone asking. “What if Siri actually worked?” Once the laughter calmed down and all witnessed the demo. We all realized we can once again refer to the phones as smart – as long as they are running AGI.inc’s software! This really is a must see, must experience solution. It was very indicative of what was to come. The realization of what intelligence in our life should and could be like to empower us to spend more time doing human things.

CES has always featured consumer technologies AND the technologies required to realize them including components and manufacturing. While the consumer face tag has officially left the event, the focus remains. With all this intelligence, Industry 5.0 is rushing into realization offering full automation including integrated quality control. To this end, Power Sessions welcomed SRK Techtronics. Born out of expertise in the detailed work of diamond cutting, SRK is a new player that expects to make a huge splash in EMS. It is helpful to note that motorcycles are called tubulars in India while listening to their session. More on their booth tour later.

Whether your facility is for manufacturing or a data center, energy is a common problem for industrial buildings. Stryten Energy  is American-built and focused with 11 facilities across the US. Their lead batteries are built with a whopping 95% or more of materials from their previous recycled batteries. In addition, Stryten Energy deploys systems in lithium and vanadium chemistries depending on what your application requires.

Our final press briefing session was hosted by the National Sleep Foundation. After NSF provided a sleep data update, Smart Buds shared their brain-responsive ear buds. Unlike most earbuds that just play audio, these are also packed with three sensors. These sensors enable them to act like an EEG to pick up brain waves required to assist with sleeping. Specifically, they can enhance slow brain waves to maintain a deep sleep longer.  Frenz Brainband by Earable Neuroscience is another EEG device was the first EEG wearable that won 3 CES Innovation Awards in a row 2023-2025. It is a band around the front of the head to provide accurate sleep tracking. It has been clinically proven to help you get to sleep faster. Finally, Tonino Lamborghini introduced the launch of her Super Brain product that is a collaboration between Tonino Lamborghini and Frenz for the ultimate sleep and focus device.

CES Exhibits

With the press days behind us and the show floor officially open, we now turn our attention to the exhibits. Exhibits is where the concepts introduced during briefings come to life in tangible innovations and booth experiences. Our first stop was Unveiled, the exclusive press event that kicks off CES and previews some of the most innovative technologies before the main halls open. Unveiled is a microcosm of CES generally highlighting some of the most innovative and must-see technologies. Once again, we would like to remind you to watch our previous coverage as we rarely cover a technology twice. One top 10 captured technology from last year we did visit was to capture more details including getting an update. Last year we captured the ultimate Chess Rival in Sense Robot’s automated chess game. This year Sense Robot also featured miniature chess boards and a Go board!

Unveiled set the tone for CES with a strong emphasis on innovation, and nowhere was that more evident than in robotics and physical AI. As one might expect, robots were quite popular this year at CES or should we say Physical AI. Yes physical AI is the new marketing term in 2026 as agentic AI pushes the look and feel of robots further forward. X-Origin likes to describe their offerings as Chat GPT in a device realized. On the industrial side, Widemount Dynamics Limited shared their firefighting robot. Despite the harsh temperature, low visibility and unpredictable nature of a fire, they manged to succeed in overcoming these challenges to provide a life saving robot. Additional challenges in creating robots can be the lack of a common operational control layer. Scanbotics declared they solved that problem with their brain control platform for robotics. Is model drift while operationalizing AI your major challenge? You’ll want to explore Memorence AI   who aims to bridge that gap for your intelligent solutions. Additional challenges in AI, particularly edge AI is that of communication. Seeking edge connectivity for your IoT (Internet of Things) device? RiseLink would like to speak with you about their solution. Medical insoles with 6 sensors including motion sensors built in were found at the Orphie, Inc. booth. Elite athlete trying to get more data not from your motion but from your sweat? Point Fit has a human applied sweat sensor and related solution ready to provide you more insights than you thought possible. If you find yourself in need of high-speed data transfer rates, enhanced video capabilities and improved power delivery, Hyper showed off their new enclosure. Enjoy their overview of the HyperDrive Next USB4 M.2 PCIe Enclosure. Mechanical keyboard your must have list? EPOMaker shared their much in demand wares. Seeking custom microphones so you come off like a pro during your next podcast? Rode Microphones LLC has an entire portfolio sure to meet your needs. Finally, need the absolute perfect bag to carry everything in? Want your laptop to be truly protected and have an easy time at airports? Targus was thinking of you with their latest announced product.

From Unveiled, we continue our journey to the Venetian Expo exhibitions. If you found yourself smiling your way through CES, you may just want to stop by Dentomi to ensure you keep that great smile. Bringing a dentist to your phone, Dentomi enables one to leverage a cell phone to check on your gum health. Interested more in spoiling your pets? Perhaps you have a cat that just loves wet food but you find it inconvenient when you go out of town at attend CES? Petkit has you covered with some very intriguing brand-new products. Do you find yourself getting lost and looking for information booths often? This hybrid AI avitar customer support solution by Avita comes straight out of Japan with you in mind.

If you are more interested in building your own products and seeking components CES was there for you as well. If you are motor vehicle manufacturer and are seeking a navigation system, Mapbox can help you get around. Furthermore, if your vehicle is fully automated, the additional information may just provide the added context to ensure passengers feel safe. Seeking to add on a haptic interface to your solution? Haply shared their affordable, portable, flexible haptic solution with all! For organizations seeking software in the loop digital twin solution, dSPACE offers a compelling solution so you can get to market with confidence.

In business, one not only seeks technology advantages but financial advantages when you can find them. To that end, the Kyrgyz Republic was happy to make their presence known. While the country may be small, it packs quite the punch with its legal tax breaks for tech firms and a large base of talent. On site, their Republic’s booth featured .beam who, as outsources, specialize in automation to meet your every needs. A realistic speech tech by NineNineSix.ai was also featured in their country’s booth, albeit they are now based in San Francisco.

We will now move over to the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). The LVCC is the largest and most dynamic hub of CES. This is where scale meets diversity, with robotics, automation, enterprise solutions, and cutting-edge components all under one roof. One of the best parts of CES is you can see the long-established companies and new to the market side by side. Part of Merck KGaA, the main parent of the Merck Group, EMD electronics has been going strong 350 years. They believe the key to their success is the 10% tithing of revenue back into R&D and where there to show you their innovations. On the other end we have the new kids on the block for EMS manufacturing with success in hand. Expanding on the press briefing, we visited SRK Techtronics for a booth tour. They shared how they brought the ‘tubular’ product (motorcycle) dream to market while realizing Industry 5.0. Furthermore, if you are seeking an EMS manufacturer, SRK Techtronics deserves a spot on your shortlist. Have an established factory but still have portions that rely on human quality control? Are your materials plastic or metal and prone to shadowing? Bucket Robotics, may be just the vendor you have been seeking. If railway innovation is what you are seeking, Israel Railway was seeking to meet you with their extensive collection of related innovations!

Power is always a great topic at CES. One great solution makes those two unexpected statements true. First, crypto mining is now possible without a separate power source. Second, in 2026, you can now turn hot water heaters into revenue! That’s correct, a water heater that crypto mines is now on the market by Superheat! Got a solar system but need better battery solution? Maybe a portable battery solution you can use away from the building with the solar system? Meet Jackery, an extendable, portable battery back up solution you may have just been looking for! Maybe you don’t need quite that much power but you want an environmental friendly power solution. Meet Flint – one of the stars of our 2025 coverage sharing the secret of their battery’s green footprint. If your requirement is ethanol but you don’t know how to create it out of thin air – meet ANA Carbasia. Yes many things are now possible in 2026.

Unlike many years, much of the technology shared applies to multiple aspects of one’s life and to different parts of the industry. For example, meet Perfect Corp. Their technology is as applicable at a doctors office as it is to providing fashion and make up advice – all in one product and one set of APIs. Speaking of the doctors office, Abbot is always striving to provide patients with more information and more insights to enable all to live life to its fullest. Seeking to enjoy life and get a flashback to the good old days of early gaming? My Arcade has a closed gaming system for retro arcade games. Their products allow one to reexperience the best from the early days of gaming including an Atari, Bandai Namco, Capcom and Sega. Not into gaming but you do want a great keyboard. Maybe you were dreaming of a carbon fiber keyboard and mouse? Announcing Dareu, top Asia market keyboard is now officially in the US.  

Last but not least, for those of you who really appreciate beautiful screens. Perhaps you are waiting for all of these technologies to come together and enable the life we always heard technology would provide? Enjoy the LG Booth Tour. We once again captured their ultra-thin screens that were on full display. In addition, we received a deep dive into the LG Signature Fridge as an example of an intelligent screen endpoint. Albeit the tech from the auto sector that allows one to open the refrigerator’s door with one’s foot was also quite exciting and much needed innovation!

Next Year’s Conference  

CES will once again return to Las Vegas for CES 2027 to take place January 6-9, 2027.

^*When vendors’ names are shared as examples in this document, it is to provide a concrete example of what was on display at the conference, not an evaluation or recommendation. Evaluation and recommendation of these vendors are beyond the scope of this specific research document. Other examples products in the same category may have also been on display.

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