๐๐ฎ๐ ๐๐๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ ๐ด๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ด๐ฒ๐ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ด๐๐ฒ?
While it seems that everyone is talking about AI as an abstract concept that is going to redefine the way we work and live, companies have presented their new products at CES 2026 in Las Vegas and we can observe a clear shift: AI is finally moving into the hardware.
If you have followed the news from this year, you could have seen that AI has been present in almost every launch, but it has evolved into something tangible and useful.
๐ฅ๐ผ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฝ๐ต๐๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฎ๐๐๐ถ๐๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ
Robots have evolved from ยซsmart vacuumsยป to assistants with physical intelligence capable of interacting with our environment. This year, AI has gained bodies and arms to help us with actual chores and logistics.
- LG CLOiD: A domestic robot with articulated arms designed to handle dishes and move objects.
- Boston Dynamics Atlas (v2): The first commercial-ready humanoid designed for home and warehouse support.
- Samsung Ballie: The spherical assistant that now uses an AI projector to follow you and turn any wall into a workstation.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ยซ๐ง๐ต๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฑ ๐ฆ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒยป ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฒ๐น๐
The car is no longer defined by its engine, but by the habitable experience it provides while driving itself. We are seeing the final transition of the automobile into a high-tech mobile office or a living room.
- Sony-Honda Afeela: A vehicle that is essentially a rolling entertainment hub integrated with the PlayStation ecosystem.
- Mercedes-Benz MB.OS: A system that turns the entire windshield into a mixed-reality interface for productivity.
๐๐ป๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ต๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐
As an industrial designer, this is my favorite trend: technology that looks like art. High-end collaborations are turning gadgets into sculptural pieces that we actually want to display in our homes.
- Samsung Music Studio 5/7 (designed by Erwan Bouroullec): A ceramic-finish speaker that looks like a minimalist sculpture rather than an electronic device.
From the looks of it, AI is being used to generate useful applications in many areas of technology, but it is not everything. In the end, as seen after the pandemic, people need their downtime and quiet spaces to achieve a good state of mind, the real key to personal and professional performance.