The 13 most useful smart home devices I've seen at CES 2026 (and would buy if I could)

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I spent the week on the CES show floor, searching for compelling smart home devices. Here's what I found.

CES 2026 signage

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ZDNET's key takeaways

CES 2026 showcases smarter, more autonomous home tech.
AI-driven features are becoming standard across home devices.
Battery-free power and quieter operation were notable features.

CES makes this smart home reviewer happy each year. There are numerous amazing, innovative, and compelling smart home devices that debut at the show, making it challenging to keep track of them all. As I comb through press releases and walk the halls, demoing the different devices, I start narrowing down a list of the most attractive ones in my mind.

Also: Best of CES 2026 Awards: Official Winners List (CNET)

With CES 2026 coming to a close, I thought it's as good a time as any to share this list. Below, you'll find my selections for the coolest, most eye-catching, yet useful devices featured at the showcase, along with information on when they'll be available for purchase.

We've seen robot vacuums go upstairs before with a prototype carrier, but we've never seen a robot vacuum seemingly grow legs and climb stairs. The Roborock Saros Rover is a robot vacuum with wheel-legs, which unfold when the robot has to go upstairs. Imagine a person crouching, then straightening their legs to stand tall; this is what the Saros Rover looks like when its legs raise its body almost a foot off the ground.

Also: I saw a two-legged robot vacuum climb up stairs at CES, and it blew my mind

After seeing the Rover in person, I'm even more impressed than I was when I first saw it on video and convinced that this is the best of CES in smart home tech. The robot's wheel-leg architecture allows it to navigate up and down a staircase, stopping at each step to clean it. The Saros Rover can even tilt, crouch, and hop as needed to avoid obstacles. While the Saros Rover hasn't been released yet, Roborock has confirmed it is developing it for launch.

The Lockin Veno Pro and Lockin V7 Max are fantastic smart locks that don't require you to ever recharge or replace their batteries. Instead of using a removable battery, this lock uses Lockin AuraCharge, an external device that you plug in about four meters away.

The AuraCharge is a transmitter that shoots an invisible light beam to your smart lock, continuously powering its battery.

The Lockin Veno Pro is a deadbolt smart lock, whereas the V7 Max is a Mortise lock, which is less common in the US than the former. The Veno Pro is expected to hit the market this year, with a retail price of around $350.

Also: I just saw one of the coolest new smart locks in action at CES

The V7 Max has dual cameras and displays to also show you who's at the door, and is planned for Q3 2026, but it's expected to cost upward of $1,000.

I bet you've never seen a robot carpet cleaner, right? That's because there are none -- or there were none, now that Robotin is entering the market. The Robotin R2 is a modular robot carpet cleaner that can wash, scrub, and dry your carpets autonomously. On the modular side, this robot features a removable vacuum module that can be replaced with a carpet cleaner, enabling it to perform both vacuuming and carpet washing in a single operation.

Admittedly, this robot's base station is quite large, as it needs to house the various modules and two clean water tanks to ensure it has sufficient water to complete its cleaning tasks. Unfortunately, there's no set date for when the Robotin R2 will be released to the market, although it is currently in production.

Google TV is introducing new generative AI features that are impressive enough to convince any Alexa user to switch to Google's voice assistant. The new features include Dive Deeper, a Nano Banana model, and Veo, and will be available as a free OTA update to TCL Google TVs initially, but will also be accessible on the Google TV Streamer.

Aside from smart home control, your Google TV will also be able to edit your photos and create artwork and videos from them. I watched as Google demoed editing a photo of a woman and her dog at the beach to look like a cartoon, then asked Gemini to create a video of the woman playing fetch with the dog with the same cartoonish look.

Also: Your Google TV is getting several useful Gemini features soon - these models included

Gemini will also generate briefs for you to catch up on your favorite sports, complete with a new visual layout and even a narrator with a sportscaster voice.

The Navimow X4 is Segway's newest flagship robot mower, announced at CES 2026. This powerful robot mower requires no RTK antenna or boundary wire; instead, it uses advanced technology that combines sensors, cameras, and LiDAR to navigate. The X4 also has an all-wheel drive (AWD) system that can handle inclines as steep as 84% or 40 degrees.

The X4 robot mower features an entirely different design from its predecessor, departing from what had almost become Navimow's signature rounded design. Instead, the Navimow X4 features the same racecar look that was popularized with the Mammotion Luba 2, a design that other brands, including Roborock, have since adopted. The X4 is beginning pre-orders on January 16, starting at $2,499 for the X430, which covers up to 1 acre, and $2,999 for the X450, which covers up to 1.5 acres.

The Govee Ceiling Light Ultra is my favorite smart light of CES 2026. Govee is taking something that you wouldn't think to look at twice (a ceiling light) and transforming it into a form of entertainment, ambiance, or attraction. Aside from offering a powerful 5,000lm, the Ceiling Light Ultra features a 616-pixel matrix that displays preset or AI-generated designs.

This could be used as a bright ceiling light for any room, with a white temperature range of 2,700K-6,500K. It could also serve as a customizable attraction in a business, thanks to pixel-level editing, or as a replacement for a light fixture in a child's room. Govee hasn't announced the launch date of the Ceiling Light Ultra, but it is expected to hit the market this year.

This new smart lock features UWB technology, allowing it to unlock wirelessly when someone with a compatible smartphone approaches the door from the outside. A set of sensors can detect when someone is walking from which direction, so the lock only opens when there's a person walking directly to the door and not when they walk past it.

While we've seen another UWB smart lock by Ultraloq (which is now available for purchase), the Aqara U400 is $30 cheaper, at $270, and also supports Apple Home Key and fingerprint recognition, unlike its competitor.

This $50 device easily mounts on a window without the need for drilling and features two 2.5K cameras: an outward-facing one and another that faces inward into your house. The Botslab W101 Window Camera can detect when someone delivers a package, making it a suitable alternative to a video doorbell in homes where installation is not possible. This makes it an option for apartments and areas where extra visibility is needed, such as a patio door or window.

Though you can use the camera's physical cover to disable the indoor-facing camera, having both cameras on a window where a pet likes to look could also offer a more fun use case.

The new Narwal Flow 2 is expected to perform better than its predecessor, though the Narwal Flow was well received. Narwal is showcasing its new flagship robot vacuum and mop, featuring an outstanding 30,000Pa of suction power and a track mop that can apply 12N of downward pressure during cleaning.

The best part about the Flow 2 is probably its intelligence. This robot is smart enough to not only recognize objects on the floor, but also remind you of misplaced items or toys, and can even flag these on a map with a priority order. The robot vacuum uses AI to process its surroundings and can adjust its cleaning accordingly, such as decreasing the noise when cleaning near a crib.

Also: This robot vacuum at CES 2026 can find lost items on your floor and alert you of them

The Narwal Flow 2 is expected to launch in April 2026. Though pricing info hasn't been announced, we can expect it to cost about the same as its predecessor, priced at $1,500.

It's hard for me to put how much I'm looking forward to the SwitchBot Weather Station into words. This is a 7.5-inch E-Ink display that always shows the date, time, sunrise and sunset information, air quality, humidity, and a weekly forecast. The display also features a button to view your calendar and offers cute quotes, as well as AI-generated weather recommendations, such as suggesting you bring an umbrella when needed.

The Weather Station features two automation buttons that you can press to trigger a scene, such as turning off all the lights in one room before bed or opening the windows and switching on the lights in the morning. The SwitchBot Weather Station is coming soon, though a price hasn't been announced yet.

Pool cleaning robots have been a prominent presence at CES over the past two years. Even if I don't have a pool to test them at home, I have to acknowledge that the technology has advanced significantly.

Beatbot is a pool cleaning robot company that is expanding the convenience of these devices with an award-winning innovation: the AquaSense X ecosystem. This charging dock cleans the pool cleaner's debris basket for you and deposits the debris into a bin, so all you have to do is dump it out every couple of weeks.

EcoFlow announced a new smart home collaboration by partnering with Homey by LG and a new Ecosystem Alliance. The partnership will allow for deeper interoperability between EcoFlow's system and Homey's open smart home platform.

The Ecosystem Alliance includes EcoFlow and over 15 smart home brands, including Shelly, Google Nest, Bosch, and others. The goal is to offer a more seamless home energy management experience by connecting EcoFlow to other smart home devices to create automations.

Imagine going grocery shopping with a list that connects directly to your fridge. When you bring home your food, you can add the expiration dates and then have your fridge create recipes according to what expires sooner. When you choose a recipe, your oven starts preheating to that recipe's specific temperature, and then your dishwasher will wash your dishes according to the type of food you've cooked.

That's what Hisense is selling with its more innovative kitchen suite: AI-powered smart appliances that can work together for you. These AI agents can learn from your habits and collaborate with other devices. The ConnectLife appliances will be available at Lowe's and through Hisense.

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The 13 most useful smart home devices I've seen at CES 2026 (and would buy if I could)

ZDNET's key takeaways