By Robert Hart
Publication Date: 2026-01-06 19:00:00
Artificial intelligence doesn’t always want to optimize your life or steal your job. Sometimes the AI just wants to be your friend. And while robotic pets weren’t the biggest stars of CES 2026, they’ve become more than just noise, signaling that AI appears to be leaving our screens and taking on a physical presence in our lives.
To be clear, Las Vegas has no shortage of purpose-built machines: There’s Samsung’s voice-controlled refrigerator, Bosch’s Alexa Plus-powered AI barista, and smarter robovacs like Narwal’s earring finder Flow 2 or Anker’s Eufy S2, which doubles as an aromatherapy diffuser — all promising to automate the drudgery of daily life. Humanoid robots like LG’s CLOiD and SwitchBot’s Onero H1 have also attracted a lot of attention, taking this logic a step further by promising more general-purpose helpers around the home – or on the factory floor, in the case of Boston Dynamics’ Atlas – even if they’re still years away from…