WEBVTT 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. 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 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, 00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:26.240 very badly, having debuted new AI-powered tools to develop and train autonomous robots. I mean, 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, 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 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 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 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 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 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, 00:01:15.520 --> 00:01:23.200 safer version of Unitry's terrifying wheeled B2W robot, which has been demoed doing a barrel 00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:30.160 roll in midair and other insane parkour tricks, careening down mountainsides through water and 00:01:30.160 --> 00:01:36.080 over rough terrain, looking like some kind of manic assassin on rollerblades. While the smaller 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 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 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 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 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 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 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? 00:02:25.760 --> 00:02:28.640 Why didn't they show them making coffee or something? Why would you... 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:38.960 Why do you think humanity needs robots? Melee combat? Well, thankfully, there were a few robots 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 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 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 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 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 00:03:15.120 --> 00:03:22.160 obstacles in its path, weighing under 300 grams. So, you know, socks, slippers, severed fingers. 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, 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 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 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:46.640 those lines with their K20 Plus modular robot system. The base model wheeled robot can be 00:03:46.640 --> 00:03:53.920 combined with a vacuum module, multiple robot arms, cameras, screen holders, and air purifiers 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 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. 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:09.280 Luxury. It's quick bits time. 00:04:13.600 --> 00:04:14.560 It's quick bits time. 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 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 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 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:42.880 unusual, but the weirdest thing about it is how surprisingly practical it might be. 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 00:04:49.520 --> 00:04:56.560 pretty big claims about how capable it is. Kind of creepy, but not weird enough. 00:04:56.560 --> 00:05:02.720 This is kind of cool. The Highsong Air Studio One, a professional looking handheld microphone 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 00:05:09.840 --> 00:05:15.120 interesting idea to me that I almost overlooked their weird AI-generated promo video. 00:05:15.840 --> 00:05:21.520 Long ago, humans discovered the natural phenomenon of echoes in caves and canyons, 00:05:21.520 --> 00:05:24.720 giving rise to the earliest attempts at capturing sound. 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 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 00:05:39.760 --> 00:05:45.200 onboard storage. It may be a surprisingly practical option for amateur filmmakers, 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. 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. 00:05:57.760 --> 00:06:02.560 Speaking of keeping things local, Google has made keeping control of your smart home devices as 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:09.680 local as possible much easier by integrating the Google Home runtime into over 40 million devices. 00:06:09.680 --> 00:06:13.440 This will let homeowners control matter-compatible smart home tech 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 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 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 00:06:30.880 --> 00:06:35.680 serious about telling people to upgrade, but they may also be getting a bit sloppy. 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 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 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 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 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, 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?