5 Outrageously Futuristic Tech Startups at CES 2022
January 8, 2022For CES 2022 we’re sending back to the future with my 5 favorite futuristic tech startups, but we don’t need a delorian and a flux capacitor to get there, instead we’re traveling underground in Tesla’s Las Vegas boring tunnel. This underground transportation solution will eventually be 100% autonomous allowing each car to travel at extremely high speeds underground without traffic or human error, but for now it relies on highly skilled drivers.
First up you’ve heard of air fryers, but what about a microwave stovetop. The On2Cook kitchen appliance combines a convection stovetop with an overhead microwave module to cook your meals in record time. An array of temperature sensors inside the On2Cook makes timers a thing of the past and results in perfectly cooked food every time. The On2Cook is fully funded and ready for production. It is expected to be released in August of 2022 with a price around $500 US dollars. The On2Cook will likely also be partnered with an at home meal service like blue apron, so you can get your fresh ingredients delivered to your door, throw them in the pot and enjoy a fresh cooked meal 10 minutes later.
Next up is a company that wants to optimize how you use your existing spaces. Wheel dot me uses strong battery powered motors combined with a special type of wheel called a mecanum wheel that can move in any direction without turning to easily and autonomously move large objects. Each wheel can support up to 100kg or 220lbs, so a typical setup with 4 wheels is able to move and support 400 kilograms or about 880 pounds, but more up to 12 wheels can be added to increase capacity.
Imagine a home theater room with stadium seating platforms that could double as a billiards room. Just tell your favorite voice assistant that it’s time to play pool and the theater seating moves to the walls and your pool table autonomously drives itself into the middle of the room with centimeter accuracy using computer vision. If you can’t imagine a world where you could afford have both a pool table and a home theater than the pricing of the Wheel dot me is probably also out of the question. They are initially rolling out with a rental platform where each set of 4 wheels will cost roughly $80/month, plus an initial setup fee that includes the design and machining of custom brackets to attach the wheel units to your furniture. Wheel dot me is targeting the industrial and commercial market first, and hopefully deploying to residential customers after that.
However, this next company is designing motorized furniture specifically for residential. The Labrador Retriever is a height adjustable moving side table designed for people with disabilities or decreased mobility. The Labrador can be summoned to any location using a voice assistant and can be used to bring you your medications, act as a mobile charger for your phone and even help you carry heavy and awkward objects using the follow me mode. Like the Wheel dot me, the labrador also uses computer vision to locate itself inside your house and avoid objects and since all of the computer vision processing is done on the device and not on the cloud the developers hope to add features like fall detection, and behavioral anomaly detection which can provided added safety for its users while maintaining their privacy. The Labrador Retriever will not be for sale direct to consumer, but will instead be provided by insurance companies to patients with mobility problems to allow them to live outside of assisted living facilities for a longer period of time.
You might be seeing a trend here: Tesla, Wheel dot me and the labrador are all using computer vision for navigation, but the engineers behind the cyber stroller has something else in mind. A camera directly on your babies face not only lets you monitor them from your phone or the handle mounted display, but AI computer vision lets it automatically alert you if your baby needs immediate attention. Cyber stroller also wants to combine this baby facing camera with a front facing camera and machine learning algorithms to give you a report of what your baby was most interested in looking at on your daily walk or run.
The cyber strollers app also allows it to be completely locked when not in use, and also controls the front wheel which has been replaced by an omnidirectional ball that can be inflated or deflated to best suit your terrain. The cyberstroller will be released in the UK starting in Q2 of 2022, and hopefully into US markets after that. At roughly $2000, it will be one of the most expensive strollers on the market, but definitely the most high tech.
Next up, it wouldn’t be the future without freakin laser beams, and after going silent for the pandemic wireless power seems to be back for CES2022. Wi-Charge uses invisible lasers mounted to your ceiling to charge battery powered devices. Wi-Charge showed off a charger for your electric toothbrush so you don’t have to have an ugly cord cluttering up your bathroom countertop, Alfred door lock uses the Wi-Charge system so you never need to change the batteries but also has the added benefit of using the Wi-Charge laser to determine precise positioning of the door. Each Wi-Charge module can search for compatible devices within a 30 foot range, with an 80 degree field of view, and can automatically target and charge your devices even if you don’t put them back in the same place. Wi-Charge themselves has previously sold only to companies to integrate into their products, but has future plans for their own line of products like a full color LCD displayfor use in restaurants and retail stores, as well as the previously mentioned electric toothbrush charger.
Speaking of electric toothbrushes, the last futuristic product is a new way to brush your teeth. Toothbrush technology hasn’t changed much in the last 20 years, and my dentist still always tells me I’m missing spots, but what if you could brush all your teeth at the same time, never miss a spot and get it done in 10 seconds. The Y-Brush combines a mouthguard with thousands of vibrating bristles to brush all your teeth, and your gums simultaneously. Just load it up with your normal toothpaste, put the flexible mouthguard style toothbrush onto your upper teeth for 5 seconds, and then your lower teeth for 5 seconds and you’re all done, complete clean with no missed spots in record time. The Y-Brush is currently for sale on their website for around $150, with different sized mouthpieces for children and adults.
Let me know your favorite futuristic invention down in the comments, and if you enjoyed this video hit the thumbs up button so the YouTube algorithm will share it with other people like you, and as always, thanks for watching the hookup.