1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,600 It's day four of our CES 2025 coverage and I've barely talked about wacky robots at all. 2 00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:13,200 Well, turns out there were lots of robots at CES this year, which makes sense. Robotics is kind 3 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:19,760 of in the middle of its chat GPT moment, or at least NVIDIA CEO Jensen Wong wants that, 4 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:26,240 very badly, having debuted new AI-powered tools to develop and train autonomous robots. I mean, 5 00:00:26,240 --> 00:00:31,760 if we have advanced AI that hallucinates and we don't stick it in a super-powered metal body, 6 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:38,000 what are we doing? Case in point, the go-to dog robot from Chinese company Unitry, who describes 7 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:46,000 it as a new creature of embodied AI and seemingly can't publish a single video where it doesn't do 8 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:52,800 a handstand. It just learned and it's very excited. Unitry says the go-to can use generative AI to 9 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:58,640 interpret spoken commands, so it figures out how to shake hands when you ask, but ask for a glass 10 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:08,240 of water and give me some water. Uh, what kind of robot did I buy? I don't know, you don't have 11 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:14,880 to do that. The go-to seems fairly physically capable, but it's actually a much more consumer-friendly, 12 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:23,200 safer version of Unitry's terrifying wheeled B2W robot, which has been demoed doing a barrel 13 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:30,160 roll in midair and other insane parkour tricks, careening down mountainsides through water and 14 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:36,080 over rough terrain, looking like some kind of manic assassin on rollerblades. While the smaller 15 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:42,960 go-to gingerly took the stairs, this thing lands a 2 meter jump into a handstand, and then let's 16 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:49,040 buddy ride it like it's the f***ing X games. Look, we're in control of these things, okay? It's 17 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:55,840 not like we're dealing with a brand new intelligent species, Unitry? What? What are you doing? Turns 18 00:01:55,840 --> 00:02:01,840 out you can also slap some wheels on the go-to, and while Boston Dynamics' spot robot goes for 19 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:10,480 nearly $75,000, Unitry is selling the go-to for just $1,600. For $16,000, you can get the company's 20 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:17,920 G1 humanoid robot, who also loves to jump, and take a bow staff off of its back, and swing it 21 00:02:17,920 --> 00:02:25,760 around like a weapon, and Unitry is training a virtual army and staff combat? What is it? Why? 22 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:28,640 Why didn't they show them making coffee or something? Why would you... 23 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:38,960 Why do you think humanity needs robots? Melee combat? Well, thankfully, there were a few robots 24 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:47,120 at CES that might not make you coffee, but could bring it to you. The Mimo from Japanese company 25 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:53,680 GZI is like a bedside table with spider legs, designed to carry items around a house or perhaps 26 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:59,280 a medical facility, and it maybe would have given me nightmares if I wasn't still thinking about 27 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:07,200 the Unitry dogs. Ah, a big trend at CES is also equipping robot vacuums with appendages, the 28 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:15,120 $2,000 Roborock Ceros Z70 conceals a clawed ARM in its body that can unfold to pick up 29 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:22,160 obstacles in its path, weighing under 300 grams. So, you know, socks, slippers, severed fingers. 30 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:30,000 But oh, the Dream X50 Ultra also has a robot ARM attachment. Plus, it's got extendable legs, 31 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:35,280 so it can climb over small ledges. Gotcha there. You know what, never mind humanoid robots, let's 32 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:40,000 just keep adding limbs to the vacuums and see where that gets us. Switchbot is thinking along 33 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:46,640 those lines with their K20 Plus modular robot system. The base model wheeled robot can be 34 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:53,920 combined with a vacuum module, multiple robot arms, cameras, screen holders, and air purifiers 35 00:03:53,920 --> 00:04:00,400 with a tabletop. So, Switchbot says you can relax in bed while this thing brings you fresh coffee 36 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:06,400 and breakfast that you would have had to have made before racing your robot back to your bed. 37 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:09,280 Luxury. It's quick bits time. 38 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:14,560 It's quick bits time. 39 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:24,320 I'll fetch the milkman. Hey, what about Razer? Yeah, they usually have some wacky out there 40 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:30,240 concept to show off at CES, but the wildest thing they had this year was the Project Ariel gaming 41 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:36,960 chair with an integrated fan system that blows cool or warm air at your backside. I mean, that's 42 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:42,880 unusual, but the weirdest thing about it is how surprisingly practical it might be. 43 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:49,520 I mean, what else you got, Razer? The Project Ava AI gamer co-pilot? I mean, it does make some 44 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:56,560 pretty big claims about how capable it is. Kind of creepy, but not weird enough. 45 00:04:56,560 --> 00:05:02,720 This is kind of cool. The Highsong Air Studio One, a professional looking handheld microphone 46 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:09,840 with built-in wireless earbuds you can slide out and use as in-ear monitors. It's such an 47 00:05:09,840 --> 00:05:15,120 interesting idea to me that I almost overlooked their weird AI-generated promo video. 48 00:05:15,840 --> 00:05:21,520 Long ago, humans discovered the natural phenomenon of echoes in caves and canyons, 49 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:24,720 giving rise to the earliest attempts at capturing sound. 50 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:32,720 Almost. Another one that caught my attention is the Shiftcam Plank, a tiny one or two terabyte SSDs 51 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:39,760 that can plug into iPhones so you can fill those up with ProRes 4K 120fps footage instead of your 52 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:45,200 onboard storage. It may be a surprisingly practical option for amateur filmmakers, 53 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:52,160 given how great iPhone cameras are and how insistent Apple is that you need to buy iCloud storage. 54 00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:57,760 What, do you want to do anything? Shiftcam told 9to5Mac they're launching a Kickstarter next month. 55 00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:02,560 Speaking of keeping things local, Google has made keeping control of your smart home devices as 56 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:09,680 local as possible much easier by integrating the Google Home runtime into over 40 million devices. 57 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:13,440 This will let homeowners control matter-compatible smart home tech 58 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:19,280 without pinging Google services every time. But Google normally wants to suck up all the data it 59 00:06:19,280 --> 00:06:23,200 can, so they're either not telling us something or they're going to cancel this feature in six 60 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:30,880 months. And Microsoft has declared 2025 the year of the Windows 11 PC refresh. They're getting 61 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:35,680 serious about telling people to upgrade, but they may also be getting a bit sloppy. 62 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:42,000 At M's Konto on Twitter, reportedly got one of those now infamous full-screen ads for Windows 11 63 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:47,440 on their Windows 10 PC, only for it to crash immediately after popping up. And I don't want 64 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:52,560 to speak for Microsoft here, but the guy drunken public warning about the end of the world is 65 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:58,640 probably not the vibe Microsoft is going for. The vibe I'm going for tomorrow is weird. That's 66 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:04,080 right, we'll be talking about all the weirdest stuff we saw at CES this year. So hey, be there, 67 00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:11,760 you're weird in a good way. I didn't mean it like that. I'm probably the weirdest. Where are you going?