Summary

CES 2022 featured innovative consumer technologies including John Deere's self-driving tractor, the Ameca humanoid robot, Sierra Space Co.'s Dream Chaser spaceship, and Bodyfriend's advanced massage chair, despite challenges posed by the Coronavirus pandemic.

Abstract

CES 2022, held in Las Vegas, adapted to the Coronavirus pandemic with many companies opting for virtual reveals and "ghost booths." Among the standout technologies showcased were John Deere's self-driving tractor, designed to optimize farming by autonomously handling tasks like plowing. Engineered Arts introduced the Ameca Robot, a humanoid robot capable of facial expressions and maintaining eye contact, indicating progress towards human-robot interaction in commercial settings. Sierra Space Co. unveiled the Dream Chaser spaceship, a reusable vehicle aimed at transporting cargo to the International Space Station and supporting a privately-made orbital station in partnership with Blue Origin, signaling growth in space tourism. Bodyfriend's luxury massage chair, the Pharaoh O2, offered advanced muscle tension sensors and an electrocardiogram function for personalized massages, albeit at a premium price. The event highlighted the potential future of consumer technology.

Opinions

The author suggests that the self-driving tractor by John Deere is a simpler and more feasible technology to develop compared to self-driving cars due to slower speeds and less complex driving environments.
The Ameca Robot's ability to emulate human-like interactions is seen as a significant step forward, though the author notes it could be perceived as somewhat unsettling ("totally not creepy, right").
The Dream Chaser spaceship and the Orbital Space Station project are viewed as part of a larger trend in space tourism, with smaller space organizations like Sierra Space Co. and Blue Origin playing a significant role.
The Pharaoh O2 massage chair by Bodyfriend is presented as the pinnacle of luxury and technology in its field, with the author acknowledging its high cost as a barrier for many consumers.
The overall sentiment towards CES 2022 is positive, with the author expressing excitement for the continued development of these technologies leading up to CES 2023.

Coolest Tech Showcased at CES 2022: From Cutting Edge Robots to Self Driving Tractors

Each year CES showcases new and prospective consumer technology created by innovative companies looking to show off their hard work to the public (and investors). Held in Las Vegas, this year’s 2022 CES was quite a different scene than it usually is; due to the concern of Coronavirus at the event, many prominent companies opted to go for purely virtual reveals and set up “ghost booths” for their products at the event.

Despite this minor setback, there were still many great showcases of the future of consumer technology, and here are some of the best ones:

John Deere Self-Driving Tractor

John Deere revealed their latest idea for the optimization of farming in their self-driving tractor technology. The idea is quite simple: why waste manlabor driving a tractor when it can simply drive itself?

Although it sounds like a daunting prospect, it is actually much simpler than its well known cousin the “self-driving car.” Tractors do not drive very fast, nor do they have to deal with rush hour traffic, so the idea of creating a self operating tractor is conveniently easier to achieve than other means of self driving vehicles.

As of right now, only “no-person-onboard” plowing will be supported by John Deere’s new tractor, rather than the more difficult task of seeding and harvesting, although it is heavily implied that within the next few years their automated tractors will only become more advanced.

The Ameca Robot

The Ameca Robot is a humanoid robot created by Engineered Arts. Featuring a wide range of facial expressions and motor movements, the robot is this company’s attempt at human emulation. The uncanny human face is capable of greeting people, commenting about various topics, and even maintaining eye contact with people (totally not creepy, right).

Although the tech is still in development, the progress made by Engineered Arts showcases a potential future where commercial robots interact with humans on a daily basis.

Dream Chaser Spaceship

Although less on the “consumer tech” side of things, Sierra Space Co. revealed their latest design on a reusable space shuttle called Dream Chaser that could eventually transport cargo to and from the International Space Station.

Along with the space shuttle, Sierra Space Co. revealed a project for a privately made Orbital Space Station. Partnered with Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin in this endeavor, the orbital station will serve a similar purpose as the International Space Station, and could even support tourism for the financially inclined. This marks a continued effort for Blue Origin to grow the space tourism industry with these smaller space organizations.

Bodyfriend’s Massage Chair

Massage chairs are the ultimate luxury item, and the company Bodyfriend has taken it one step further with their “Pharaoh O2” design.

Utilising advanced sensors that can measure your muscle tensity, as well as a built in electrocardiogram function that will check your heart rate, this cutting edge massager will pinpoint every muscle and massage with perfect accuracy.

Unfortunately, getting your hands on this miracle in massaging innovation will put you down somewhere around $10,000, a hefty price for luxury.

Overall the CES 2022 showed us some great tech to look forward to, and the continued development of these projects will be watched closely until next year’s CES in 2023.

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