ST Picks: From robot companions to smart mirrors, 10 AI gadgets at CES 2024

LAS VEGAS – Artificial intelligence (AI) can play with your dog, understand why your baby’s crying, and keep you company while you are in the toilet – think of any scenario and there will probably be AI involved. AI dominated the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2024, giving audiences a glimpse at how smart tech will increasingly influence our daily lives in the years ahead following the boom in AI development in 2023. The Straits Times walked the show floor of the world’s largest consumer tech convention to highlight 10 interesting – and quirky – AI use cases.

AI may know your baby better than you do. At least, that is what tech start-up Cappella aims to achieve with an app that turns your phone into a baby monitoring device. The app predicts what the baby wants by taking into account how loudly the child is crying, the time of day and the baby’s eating patterns, among other cues.

The technology aims to give parents peace of mind and is 95 per cent accurate, according to Cappella. Its algorithms are drawn from 1,500 babies studied in hospitals and 8,000 samples of crying, said its spokeswoman. Elsewhere in baby tech, AI is also used in autonomous strollers to allow parents to walk freely, only requiring them to steer.

Developed by Gluxkind, the stroller adapts its speed to stay within an arm’s length and slows itself down on slopes. AI has a solution for those who snore. It comes in the shape of a smart pillow that actively repositions the user’s head throughout the night by gently changing the air pressure in the cushion, opening up the user’s airway to prevent snoring.

A console attached to the smart pillow monitors sleep patterns and presents data on how long a user slept – and how long they snored – on an app. Samsung, which announced a robot assistant named Ballie on Jan 8, is not the only company rolling out AI companions. Designed to assist in nursing homes, guide travellers at airports and serve customers in restaurants, the cat-faced Miroka, built by French developers Enchanted Tools, may be the friendliest-looking robot around.

For starters, it will be trained to assist nurses with logistics, relieving them of the need to carry heavy loads of medication and other supplies, said the firm’s spokeswoman. Robots like Oro by Ogmen Robotics are also filling in for owners who are too busy for their dogs. Oro can be programmed to feed, train and even play catch.

The Rabbit R1 by AI start-up Rabbit is a mysterious-looking AI gadget that can use your phone apps for you. It is a pioneer in what is being touted as a new race for the iPhone of the AI generation and will be able to make purchases online when prompted and send messages for users – when the technology is ready. Users will also be able to train it to do new things, like how to use photo-editing tools.

In Rabbit’s words, the R1 is powered by a “large action model”, which, unlike a large language model, is trained primarily to execute commands on digital apps. The jury is still out on how smooth and reliable gadgets like the R1 will be, but the start-up has sold out two batches of at least 10,000 devices during CES and will ship the devices by May 2024. AI could be the ideal chef for those whose steaks always turn out well done – or burnt.

US firm Brisk It’s Smart Grill can recommend ways to cook dishes and, if needed, do the cooking itself. It comes with a temperature needle that can be stabbed into a chunk of meat to ensure it is cooked perfectly. The grill’s companion mobile app is also equipped with a chatbot that can discuss recipes with the user and offer cooking tips.

What is the fun in birdwatching when you cannot brag about which rare species you managed to locate? A pair of smart binoculars, developed by Austrian firm Swarovski Optik, has been taught to identify about 8,000 avian species – including birds in Asia, according to its developers – to spare your blushes once and for all. But the price of knowledge will set users back by US$4,799 (S$6,400). Glidance’s smart cane with wheels aims to help visually impaired users navigate their way around safely.

Its sensors detect when people or other obstacles are in the way and it automatically steers users away briefly to avoid a collision, before its wheels revert to go in the right direction. Would you trust a mirror to give you fashion advice? An AI-equipped mirror by Stylebot from South Korea displays outfit ideas based on clothes the user has scanned into the device’s library. Other smart mirrors on the CES show floor also sync with smart toothbrushes to coach users on their brushing technique.

Ideal for germophobes, Kohler’s smart toilets can lift and flush at your command without users having to touch the seat. Its bidet spray can also be activated through voice commands via AI assistant Alexa, which can play music or activate other gadgets in a smart toilet. If there is one message that car manufacturers made clear this CES, it is that their cars are as much gadgets as they are driving machines.

Volkswagen announced plans to marry ChatGPT with its in-car voice assistant to more natural communication with its driver as it assists with functions like air-conditioning and navigation. Afeela, a new car by Sony and Honda, will come with an entertainment dashboard that can play video games and screen movies. .