I’ve just dragged my exhausted body and overstimulated psyche home from Las Vegas and this year’s annual CES trade show, where I spent a little less than a week traipsing through Mandalay Bay, the LVCC, and the Venetian, trying to absorb the world’s most cutting-edge technology along with 140,000 other people. My biggest takeaway: AI is everywhere.
Not really a surprise, right?
AI has been the talk of CES for the past several years, even before the pandemic. But what stood out this year was its normalization and intuitiveness. We’re no longer just letting the product do its thing; we’re interacting with it, conversing with it, and training it to deliver the outcomes we want, which, by the way, aren’t static.
In a nutshell: The goal is to make life better, not just easier.
As Reviewed’s executive editor and a smart home and large appliance product expert, I’ve been working with “smart” gadgets for years: video doorbells that alert me when “a person” is approaching, robot vacuums that map my floor plan and suck up dog hair autonomously, and washing machines that can preventatively self-diagnose malfunctions.
But this year felt so different, like all the past years’ advancements were finally gelling. For example, LG’s upmarket Signature line debuted a refrigerator that uses LLM technology to seamlessly interact. It keeps track of the food stored inside and can offer on-the-spot recipe suggestions based on the available ingredients and your family’s tastes.
Also in the kitchen, Bosch unveiled its fully automatic espresso machine that holds the world’s first partnership in that category with Alexa+. You can share with her that you had a late night and ask for a suggested drink to get you going in the morning. Once you chat back and forth to determine what you want, the machine will brew it perfectly, without you ever having to get out of bed. Now, you just need your own Rosey to deliver it.
Speaking of humanoid robots in this increasingly Jetsons’ world, I saw so many prototypes poised and ready to do dishes and fold laundry. Some may hit the market this year, and others are close; in either case, because this form factor is still cutting-edge, it will cost a consumer thousands and thousands of dollars to secure their own. Not too many people have that kind of cash hanging around, and frankly, I just don’t know if I’m ready to share my home with another “human,” whether they are doing all my chores for me or not.
Here are my personal top 5 intuitive products to look forward to in 2026:
- Nirva AI Jewelry: A really cool, artsy necklace that doubles as a biometric sensor, detecting your mood and energy levels and recording your daily interactions before journaling them into an app in real time.
- Dephy (sounds like dee-fi) Sidekick: A bionic wearable that users can strap to their ankles and lower legs. It doesn’t do the walking for you, but it does give you a boost and the extra energy you may need to take your grandkids to the playground or just get out to the grocery store.
- Aiper IrriSense 2: This smart irrigation sprinkler system does everything from interpret local weather reports and water bans to distribute nutrients to your grass, alongside its core function of watering the lawn. But the best part, there’s no installation. You just connect it to a hose and walk away.
- Govee Sky Ceiling Light: My favorite smart lighting brand found a way to bring the blue sky inside anytime you want. It mimics natural, clear-sky daylight, which has huge implications for regions that experience extended nightfall or lots of rain.
- Beatbot RoboTurtle: Still in its infancy and not yet available for commercial use, this adorable robot turtle from robot pool cleaner brand Beatbot looks like a turtle, mimics the movement of real sea turtles, swims, and responds to gestures. Its solar panel shell gives it power, and its mission is to become an important environmental research tool in a way that unrealistic crafts can’t be.
I can’t wait to see what brands bring to the CES show floor next year, and I can imagine the trend of making life better over easier will continue.
And just for fun? Here’s a cute “pet” robot.
