1 of 33James Martin/CNET

The doors have closed on CES 2026 in Las Vegas, but the nature of the event means that many of the technologies, products and weird ideas we saw will show up as things you can buy in the hopefully near future (and many you can get right now). 

We've put together 32 of the most interesting items here, but make sure you also check out the nominees and winners of the official Best of CES 2026 Awards.

2 of 33SATELLAI

An AI collar for your pup

We're not yet at the point where a smart dog collar will translate barks into words (sorry Dug), but AI doesn't have to be conversational to be useful. The Satellai Collar Go uses a platform called Petsense AI to monitor location, sleep and temperature data and other metrics that evaluate the dog's overall health and generate alerts when something seems off.

3 of 33David Watsky/CNET

A barcode scanner for your fridge

It's likely you had to scan your own groceries at the store, and now a fridge is asking you to scan them again before you put them inside? Are we just making extra work for ourselves? Not according to CNET's David Watsky, who sees this as the future of fridges.

That future has a lot of competition. Companies have tried to make smart fridges that know what's inside, so you can see which foods are about to expire or generate recipes based on what you have on hand. Some think AI is the answer, with cameras that detect what you've loaded. GE Profile's new smart fridge is using the more tried-and-true barcode technology that's easier and more familiar.

4 of 33Ajay Kumar/CNET

A robot vacuum that also does stairs

Last year, during CES, I chuckled at Roborock's Saros Z70 robotic vacuum and its robot arm that would grab things out of the way. It seemed slightly comical, and the results when it finally shipped didn't quite live up to its ambitions.

This year, Roborock introduced another robotic vacuum variation, the Dreame X50 Ultra, which features legs that enable it to move up and down stairs. Now we're talking.

The fact that it navigates stairs is cool, for sure, but what tipped me toward being a believer is that it also cleans the stairs as it goes, turning 90 degrees with one leg on the lower stair to keep its stability while vacuuming the stairs.

Have you had to vacuum stairs? It's a pain, and even though I have a robot vacuum on the main floor of my house and an older model taking care of the downstairs, I'm the one who has to haul the wand vacuum up and down the stairs, cleaning each one. The Saros Rover is a robot vacuum I can get behind… or better yet, I can sit on the couch while it does all the work.

5 of 33James Bricknell/CNET

A UV printer for textured prints

CNET's James Bricknell has been keeping an eye on UV printing, a technology that uses multiple thin layers of UV-light-reactive resin to build full-color, textured prints on almost any hard surface. Picture the difference between a flat photo print and a canvas that looks like an acrylic painting. xTool showed off one of the few UV printers designed for the creative community, with examples of images printed on hard surfaces such as wood, plastic, glass and metal.

6 of 33IAI Smart

AI technology for more local processing

One of the bigger AI stories this year is going to be a push toward on-device processing with less reliance on cloud computing. Sending voice requests to the cloud has computational benefits, but ultimately, it wastes natural resources, contributes to an unprecedented shortage of memory that's unlikely to be resolved quickly and poses a significant privacy concern.

IAI Smart demonstrated its SmartVoice technology in Emerson Smart devices, some of which are already available for purchase.

7 of 33Tharon Green/CNET

A large single display for your multitasking dreams

A friend of mine, who first introduced me to the benefits of working with multiple monitors decades ago, recently said he's actually getting rid of some of his displays. With modern screens, the advantage is no longer the number of screens; it's the total number of high-resolution pixels available for all kinds of multitasking.

Dell must be thinking the same way, because its UltraSharp 52 Thunderbolt Monitor is a 52-inch display with a 6K resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. It's also a full Thunderbolt 5 hub for connecting all the devices you need.

8 of 33Jesse Orrall/CNET

The one robot (out of many) that everyone is talking about at CES 2026

By now, you've probably seen that CES 2026 is full of robots, of many varying levels of quality. Some are designed with limited tasks in mind, some attempt to be human-like and some just don't live up to expectations. 

And then there's the Boston Dynamics Atlas, which was named a winner of the Best Robot category in the Best of CES 2026 Awards. It's a freestanding humanoid robot that will soon be put to work in Hyundai factories, with an exceptional range of motion, durability and easy repairability. CNET's Katie Collins got up close and personal with Atlas to learn more about it.

9 of 33Haley Henschel/Mashable

A chef's knife that cuts through food with ease

Most home kitchen knives aren't that sharp, so cutting something delicate like a tomato sometimes gives way to a squishy mess.

What if the knife could slice cleanly with very little effort? A high-quality, well-sharpened knife will do that, but not many home chefs sharpen to that level. Instead, Seattle Ultrasonics designed the C-200, an ultrasonic chef's knife that vibrates 30,000 times per second. This allows the blade to slide smoothly through food and prevents some slices from sticking to the sides of the blade. Ultrasonic knives are fairly common for larger, industrial uses, but the $399 C-200 is the first one developed for a home kitchen.

10 of 33James Bricknell/CNET

Bullseye more than womp rats with this Star Wars dartboard

Someone must've looked at the radiating design of a dartboard and said, "hyperspace," because it certainly fits as the central element of a Star Wars-themed frame meant to look like the Millennium Falcon. Target Darts, which manufactures high-quality dartboards, showcased the $200 board and border, as well as a $650 Omni version that features a light ring around the board. The ring is studded with four cameras to track the darts' positions and keeps score in a connected app. 

If you're a Star Wars and darts fan, this set should bring balance to your game room and let you pretend to be Darth Vader.

(Let's be honest: I really wanted to write "Darts Vader.")

11 of 33Scott Stein/CNET

Headphones that act like smart glasses

Cameras embedded in smart glasses are becoming more common, with the addition of AI tech making it possible to ask smart assistants things like, "What am I looking at?" But not everyone wants to wear glasses. Game-accessory maker Razer decided that a camera can be in nearly anything and added it to gaming headphones in Project Motoko. The headphones feature dual 12-megapixel 4K cameras and will connect to any AI service to field questions.

12 of 33Macy Meyer/CNET

Another you, so you can do more interesting stuff

Who hasn't wanted to clone themselves so the other version can take on mundane tasks and lengthy conversations? Using MyPersona AI, CNET's Katelyn Chedraoui created an AI version of herself, "and it wasn't as weird as I thought it would be," she writes. The digital clone accurately and quickly answered questions based on areas of expertise that Katelyn defined while setting up the avatar, using her voice and facial expressions. It could be a way, with employees' consent, to build up and share institutional knowledge to alleviate administrative burdens.

CNET's Macy Meyer, who accompanied her to the demo, wasn't easily fooled. "It didn't know anything about Taylor Swift or her best songs," Meyer said. "So clearly it wasn't Katelyn."

13 of 33Aqara

A special spatial presense sensor

Your home may be equipped with smart lamps, smart plugs and other devices that are triggered by factors such as the time of day or scheduled scenes. You may even have a motion sensor or two that will turn on lights when someone approaches. Aqara wants to take that further with the FP400 Spatial Multi-Sensor, a device that senses presence -- "a less invasive way to track movement around a home compared to the eyes of indoor security cameras," writes CNET's Tyler Lacoma. An example of presence sensing is monitoring elderly people to be able to respond quickly after a fall.

14 of 33Celso Bulgatti/CNET

Three phone panels for the tablet experience anywhere

Not just the next line of foldable phones, the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold has just been named the overall winning product in the Best of CES 2026 Awards. 

Although the Galaxy Z TriFold was announced prior to CES, this was the first opportunity CNET's Abrar Al-Heeti had to get hands-on time with it. (Our colleague Prakhar Khanna nabbed the first experience in Dubai shortly after it became available there.) She found it to be impressively sleek when open and "is all about getting things done on a portable scale."

15 of 33Scott Stein/CNET

Very short-range wireless communications for all your personal devices

Another tech trend in recent years is the number of personal devices available to carry or connect to your body: smartwatches, rings, AI necklaces, glasses and of course your phone. They all rely on Bluetooth or Wi-Fi wireless networking, but more devices add congestion and sometimes miscommunication. The Ixana Wi-R is a protocol and chip that creates a hyperlocal field close to your body, enabling low latency and 5Mbps data transfer.

16 of 33David Lumb/CNET

A responsible way to deal with loose plastic bags

Somewhere in the back of a cabinet in my kitchen is a dense wad of plastic grocery bags that, as long as they're out of my sight, effectively don't exist. Most are too flimsy to use again, and our local recycling stopped taking loose bags because they clog the industrial equipment. 

Startup Clear Drop has a solution, the aptly named Soft Plastic Composter. You feed the trash can-like device plastic bags, and when it's full, it heats the plastic and presses it into a brick. Then you use a premade envelope to ship it to a processing facility. The Soft Plastic Composter was named the winner of the Best Sustainability category in the Best of CES 2026 Awards.

17 of 33David Watsky/CNET

A portable food lab that detects potentially dangerous allergens

Food allergies can be serious, and venturing out to restaurants or other people's houses can be anxiety-inducing. People with dairy or gluten allergies may soon have a portable laboratory that will screen for potential risks. The Allergen Alert analyzes food samples you put into a single-use pouch and delivers results in minutes. It's currently being used in trials by chefs to test food before it leaves the kitchen. Allergen Alert was named as the winner of the Best Startup category for the Best of CES 2026 Awards.

18 of 33Willo Technologies

Tech to power your devices without connecting them to anything

Do you remember when you first heard about Wi-Fi and its miraculous ability to send data without plugging into a wired network or a phone line? (If this all sounds Jurassic, ask your parents.) Now we take laptops to coffee shops and hotels and just expect to connect to the internet wirelessly.

The next frontier is wireless power, where you can charge your devices simply by positioning them in a field generated by a power source. Finnish company Willo has emerged from years of stealth research with technology that it says can deliver on this promise. "I'm seeing. I'm believing," wrote CNET's Katie Collins in her overview of what Willo demonstrated to her. 

It was impressive enough to garner a win in the Best Energy Tech category of the Best of CES 2026 Awards.

19 of 33James Bricknell/CNET

A solar charger that chases the sunlight

Power stations with solar charging capabilities are great, as long as they're in the sun. But that means you need to periodically reposition the device or connected solar panels to ensure it's getting the most charge. Instead, let the power station do all that work. Jackery's Solar Mars Bot is an autonomous, roving battery backup with retractable solar panels. It tracks the sun and moves itself as needed. This is the little power puppy you didn't realize your campsite was missing.

20 of 33CNET Group

A new cross-device AI assistant platform

AI is everywhere in tech right now, or at least in every press release. Making it work across devices and platforms, though, requires a deep level of integration. That's the goal of Qira, developed by Lenovo and Motorola, and designed to understand context and suggest follow-up actions, all from the system level. Look for Qira in Lenovo devices early in 2026 and in upcoming Motorola smartphones.

21 of 33Katie Collins/CNET

A smartphone camera that thinks outside the slab

The difficulty in implementing lenses into smartphone cameras is the limited space available. A phone needs to be thin and light, but also capture subjects far away with clarity -- there's just not much room in a device already packed with battery and circuitry. So Honor decided to implement an exterior camera on a robotic arm that acts like a small gimbal. CNET's Katie Collins was able to see -- but not touch -- an Honor Robot prototype at CES 2026; here's hoping Honor brings the finished device at Mobile World Congress in March.

22 of 33David Watsky/CNET

A combo washer-dryer that's finally worth it

When your washer or dryer has spun its last cycle, you need to decide whether to replace one or get a new pair. Wouldn't it be easier to have just one device that does the entire clothes washing and drying? That's not a new idea, but washer-dryers typically take hours to dry a single load.

LG's new Signature washer-dryer ventless machine just might be the combo unit that actually gets the job done in a reasonable amount of time. CNET's David Watsky noted that a single 10-pound load of laundry can be entirely done in about 90 minutes.

23 of 33Katie Collins/CNET

The robot turtle with broader aspirations

This year, it's difficult to get far at CES without running into a robot of some type -- sometimes literally, as they've been known to wander the aisles and lobbies. Beatbot's RoboTurtle, however, is one you won't soon forget. Yes, it's a swimming turtle, mimicking the way real turtles move through the water. For power, it swims to the surface and recharges via solar panels. The RoboTurtle is an environmental research tool designed to monitor coral reefs and fish populations in a less obtrusive manner compared to a human diver or a typical submersible.

24 of 33Maria Diaz/ZDNET

A helpful breastfeeding monitor

When CNET's James Bricknell cared for his premature daughter, there was a need to monitor her weight and milk intake -- which at the time could only be estimated, as she was being breastfed. Coming later in 2026 is a tool he wished he'd had then. Coro is a silicone nipple shield with an integrated flow rate monitor accurate to 0.01 milliliters. A companion app records the measurements and tracks intake over time, as well as across each breast. "The peace of mind that would have given us as new parents of a tiny baby would have been easily worth the $299 estimated price," he wrote. Coro is the winner of the Best Parent Tech category of the Best of CES 2026 Awards.

25 of 33Lego

Lego bricks with smarts

I'm not a Lego obsessive, but I did spend some enjoyable, zen-like time during the holidays assembling an F1 race car from the inside out. The variety of forms Lego creates for its pieces is impressive, but ultimately, they're all made of plastic. And the car now just sits on my desk.

However, the company is about to make those pieces a lot more interesting. It showcased Lego Smart Bricks, regular-sized blocks packed with circuits, sensors, speakers, and lights that can intelligently react when in proximity to others. It doesn't hurt that the first sets to get the new tech will be Star Wars kits on March 1.

26 of 33David Watsky/CNET

A machine that makes ice in less time than I can make a cocktail

If I'm going to have ice in my drinks, I need to remember to fill plastic trays with water early enough so the freezer has plenty of time to freeze them. That's fine for most days, but limited when the house is full of guests. The Euhomy Leopard X1 creates bullet ice in 5 minutes.

The company also showed off the Rock Pro Sphere, a machine that creates crystal clear, perfectly smooth spheres of ice for your fancy whiskey presentations.

27 of 33Alexandra Able/CNET

A modern BlackBerry with a clicky keyboard

Do you miss the days when mobile phones were tactile? All-screen models like the iPhone pushed out the original BlackBerry and other phones that included a physical keyboard below the screen. Your fingertips are probably itching to use the Clicks Communicator, an Android phone that can work standalone but is also designed as a distraction-free companion to a full-featured smartphone. And it even has a headphone jack.

28 of 33Ty Pendlebury/CNET

A giant 130-inch TV with great color

CES has always showcased the latest TV technology, so it's a given that each year there will be giant TVs (like The Wall) and the latest display technologies. For CES 2026, Samsung's Micro RGB Backlit R95H TV has caught our attention -- and not just because it's a 130-inch television. The Micro RGB LEDs potentially offer more colors, which Samsung says can achieve 100% of the HDR-ready BT.2020 wide color gamut. It includes Samsung's proprietary Glare-Free technology, which will be important on such a wide expanse of display. Pricing and availability have not yet been announced.

29 of 33Josh Goldman/CNET

First look at a folding phone from Motorola

Everyone (well, almost everyone) is getting into the foldable phone game at the start of 2026. Motorola debuted its Razr Fold, a book-style design set to arrive this summer, featuring a 6.6-inch external display and an 8.1-inch internal display. Specific details are still sparse, but it's good to see more competition in this space.

30 of 33Abrar Al-Heeti/CNET

A lollipop that plays music as you eat it

Now here's a concept you probably never considered. The Lollipop Star is a double dose of pop, both candy and music. It's a sweet treat you can eat… that also plays music. When it's in your mouth, it uses bone conduction (sound vibrations that go through your skull's bones to your inner ear) to play three tunes when you're biting down with your molars. There are three artists, each with a particular flavor: Ice Spice (peach), Akon (blueberry) and Armani White (lime). Each lollipop costs $9 and will be available online and at select retailers.

31 of 33Ajay Kumar/CNET

A ceiling light that acts like a skylight

Skylights sound like a great way to bring natural light into a dark room, but you can't (or shouldn't) just cut into any ceiling, especially if you're in a rental. And skylights are notorious for not keeping out the weather.

Govee has alternatives that are designed to mimic natural light in a circular lamp that attaches to the ceiling or wall. The Govee Ceiling Light Ultra uses a 616-pixel LED matrix and reportedly outputs 5,000 lumens of brightness. The Sky Ceiling Light isn't as sophisticated or bright, but could be just the thing to warm up dark corners.

32 of 33Owen Poole/CNET

This smart ring catches the conversations you forget

Don't you wish you could remember more details from everyday conversations with people, or record your thoughts when your phone or pen and paper aren't nearby? The Vocci AI ring can record audio when you trigger it with the press of a button -- it doesn't record all the time -- and then generates a transcript when done. Tapping the button also sets a marker that flags that part of the audio and provides AI-generated insights based on those notes.

33 of 33Ajay Kumar/CNET

A wireless smart lock that doesn't require a battery

A smart lock with no power is just a waste of money, and it can feel like supplying it with batteries is even more expense. Lockin's V7 Max has created a smart door lock that "requires no sunlight, no manual charging and provides an infinite power supply," according to the company. How? Through optical wireless charging. A base station in your house, positioned within 4 meters of the door with a clear line of sight, provides all the power the lock needs. This charge enables three types of biometric security: finger vein, palm vein and 3D facial recognition.