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Trends from CES 2020
In January, Chris Hii, NeuronicWorks' Hardware Team Lead, attended CES in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. With over 175,000 attendees and more than 4,500 exhibiting companies, CES is the world's premier consumer electronics show. When Chris got back, we sat down with him to talk about his experience at the event and what takeaways he saw for NeuronicWorks' clients.
Oral-B iO electric toothbrush, Source: Oral-B
Q: What were the major trends you saw featured at CES?
There was a real focus on digital health and well-being. The products available for this space were pretty wide-ranging. I saw a mouth-mapping toothbrush, for instance. It used AI to map your mouth and assess the quality of your brushing, including telling you which areas in your mouth need better coverage. There was a long line of people waiting to try the live demo!
ADI’s GEN II , Source: Analog Devices
New stress monitoring technology was also on display. The one that I saw was similar to a smartwatch that measured biometrics like heart rate and breathing. But this one adds in stress measurement by checking the impedance of your skin. It alerts you when you're getting too stressed out and should take a break.
...everything in the home can integrate with smart home devices like Amazon's Alexa or Google Home Assistant.
Smart diaper – Pampers
A lot of smart home-type product development was featured. Basically, everything was smart! It might be past the point of practical—like laundry machines and dishwashers that integrate with smart home devices to tell you when they're done. I'm pretty sure a simple tone can do that job. So, it may not always be the most practical application. Still, it's a way of showing consumers how everything in the home can integrate with smart home devices like Amazon's Alexa or Google Home Assistant.
The commodification of drones really stood out this year. Drones are so common now. No matter what your application, you can essentially pick a drone platform and drone software from any number of providers and have it do what you need it to do right off the shelf.
The same is true for VR headsets and accessories, which have also been fully commoditized now. It is not like a few years ago when Oculus was the market leader in the space, and there was really no one else.
Self-driving technologies for vehicles were also a big feature of CES this year. Lidar was huge—there were lots of lidar demos. Solutions were on offer for lidar cameras, back end processing equipment, and lidar networking equipment. Some companies were offering a roof-rack mounted "backpack" for your car that equips it with computers and lidar sensors to convert the vehicle to be self-driving.
4G GPS Tracking Health Smart Watch for Seniors, Source: Smart NRE
...it's becoming more affordable to integrate cellular capabilities in so many more things...
4G and soon 5G technologies being embedded into small devices also stood out. With the decreasing cost of cellular, it's becoming more affordable to integrate cellular capabilities in so many more things. One application I saw was a cellular-enabled watch. It was a lot like a smartwatch but it was essentially a $100 no-name watch with a 4G connection so you could use it like a phone. That just wouldn't have been possible a few years ago at that price point.
There were also a lot of vendors from Asia seeking Western partners. They have complete, finished products waiting to be branded and marketed in the West. These weren't emerging technologies or new products, but they were ready to go for branding and selling by the right partner.
The 'smartification' of the home, especially, is an excellent opportunity for us. We've worked with a lot of clients in that space already.
Q: What will these trends mean for NeuronicWorks clients? What will be their impacts?
Chris: Our clients like to embrace new technology and embrace change and new opportunities in the marketplace.
I think CES this year showed us that there are an increasing number of opportunities for our clients in the home and wearable spaces. The 'smartification' of the home, especially, is an excellent opportunity for us. We've worked with a lot of clients in that space already.
And we like working on wearables, too. That's been one of our strengths for a long time, and it's a space that doesn't look to be slowing down any time soon.
This idea of cellular connectivity in smaller and smaller devices also means that devices which previously have used Bluetooth to connect to your phone might now have their own embedded cellular modem. The price for cellular is dropping to be similar to other radio technologies. So, you'll be seeing more cellular-enabled devices, and you won't have to rely on your phone as much. This is great, since your devices can connect wherever you are, and you don't have to worry about having your phone on you or about having access to a wi-fi network.
CES 2020 App
Q: What were your personal takeaways from the event?
Chris: One personal takeaway was that with the sheer size of the event—with all the companies and new products and innovation I saw—it's a really exciting time in consumer electronics. That kind of robust presence of all these companies at CES is a sign that the economy is strong, so hopefully the industry will maintain the same levels of innovation and investment in R&D going forward.
And I was impressed with the CES event app, which used indoor location services via Bluetooth positioning. It was an excellent technology demonstrator and use of the technology. Cellular indoors wouldn't be reliable, and you couldn't use GPS indoors. But the Bluetooth positioning worked really well, and it scaled wonderfully. It gave you accuracy to within one metre, which was great because some of the halls at CES are enormous, with 3000 or 4000 booths in them that aren't always numbered sequentially. It was the best application of Bluetooth positioning that I've seen.
NeuronicWorks will be looking forward to heading back to CES in 2021. We hope to see you there!
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