The Consumer Electronics Show CES is an annual technology showcase which brings in thousands of visitors from around the world each year, according to CNN money.
CNN reported CES had over 3,600 companies turn up to showcase this year with “a mix of amazing, intriguing and downright ridiculous technology.”
“You don’t really go to CES to see the gadget you’re going to buy in the store tomorrow. You go to CES to catch a glimpse of the future,” said YouTube tech reporter Marques Brownlee. One piece of technology which seemed to generate a lot of buzz this year was the Ehang 184, a completely autonomous drone capable of flying a human up to 220lbs, according to Huffington Post.
The drone at CES resembles the cockpit of a white helicopter, mounted on top of a black, four armed drone with two small skids across the bottom.
According to George Yan, co-founder and COO of Ehang, the 184 will be capable of taking off and landing on platforms as small as 2 parking lot spaces. The drone is called the 184 because it seats one person, has eight propellers, and has four arms, according to Yan.
The 184 is controlled by an iPad resembling center control tablet where the passenger selects a point on the map, then sits back and relaxes while the 184 safely flies to the destination all on its own, according to Yan.
The 184 has a cruising speed of 62mph, a maximum flight time of 23 minutes, and a charge time of 25 minutes, according to CNN Money.
The 184 is projected to cost $2-300,000 and does not have a set timeline for release just yet, but Ehang is working diligently to get all the appropriate permits from the Federal Aviation Administration to make their man-carrying drone legal.
Nathan Farnsworth, a freshman from Utah studying computer science said, “At first it will be pricey and in my opinion, not very useful to the common person. The Military is probably going to be where it starts out growing.
Once it gets military attention, and usefulness, then it will be improved to the point where it won't be extremely expensive, and it will be very handy to each individual needing to get somewhere fast.”
Another item to create a lot of attention was LG’s rollable HD screen.The screen is a full HD display capable of being rolled like a newspaper, making it very easy to transport, store, or any other number of potential uses, CNN reported.
According to CNN Money’s Samuel Burke, “It looks like an HD television, but it feels like a piece of paper.”The concept displayed at CES was only 18 inches across diagonally, but LG plans to go on to make rollable screens up to 50 inches in size one day, according to Burke.
Nick Taylor, a sophomore from Idaho studying computer sciences said, “Once they make the screens larger, I could see it replacing projectors in schools. I could also see it in cars as a snappy electronic display.
"I could even see it being used as some sort of cloaking device for the military.”Since the rollable screen in still in concept form, there weren’t any prices announced on future products.
Much of what took over the CES show floor was technologically augmented versions of household items we already have today. The Verge reported on many of these technological advancements or “leaps in laziness,” as Taylor put it, such as internet connected blenders by Panasonic, refrigerators with tablets built in by Samsung, and even automatic laundry folding machines.
The “Laundroid” as it’s called is a laundry folding machine by the Japanese company, Seven Dreamers, and is capable of folding a piece of clothing in about 3-10 minutes.
PCmag said the Laundroid is about the size of a refrigerator, the way it works is “you throw your crumpled clothes in a bottom bin like a pull-out freezer, and they're moved up to shelves neatly folded.”
“The robot uses image-recognition algorithms to tell what kind of clothing it's handling and, then folds it appropriately,” Seven Dreamers CEO Shin Sakane said.
The Laundroid will be coming to the U.S. eventually, but will start off being sold in Japan.No price has been announced as of yet, but Sakane said the Laundroid will be “a luxury item.”
Char Spencer from Hauula said, “I think it’s cool, but do we really need this kind of technology? I personally don't like folding laundry, but I know it’s because I’m lazy about it.
"But I feel like by doing my laundry or other tasks that I may not enjoy I’m learning something valuable like hard work, patience, long-suffering.”To see more of this year’s gadgets, visit the official CES website at www.cesweb.org.