Tech hits the road
Samsung wasn’t the only company at
CES showcasing car improvements
with its 5G tech (see ‘5G everywhere’
opposite). Bosch, more used to designing
gadgets for the garden or the workshop,
introduced the Virtual Visor, an LCD sun
visor which trains a camera on the
driver’s face and intelligently repositions
the darkening of its hexagonal cells to
stop sun glare. Segway, first famous for
wacky stand-up vehicles and later for
scooters, revealed the S-Pod, a two-
wheeled vehicle which repositions the
company’s self-balancing tech into a
24mph sit-down ride. Odd, certainly, butpersonal electric vehicles – particularly if
linked together – could be a big part of
the future of transportation. The weird
Wello Family, a hybrid solar-powered bike
and car, might not be, but it does at least
have room for a passenger or two.
If you’re lusting after the smarts of
a Tesla in the guts of another brand,
Comma.ai showed Comma Two – a $999
(around £765) implementation of its
open-source Openpilot autopilot system.
Thus far they’re only offering kits for
fitting into a Honda Acura, and you’ll
obviously need to put a lot of trust into
open-source software if you’re going touse it on the road, but the idea of
retrofitting old cars with tomorrow’s
smart driving tech is truly exciting.We’re getting serious Wall-E vibes from Segway’s
new personal transporter.Image credits (left to right, top to bottom): Segway, Walabotto detect carbon dioxide and
hydrogen sulfide to let you know
if you should give it five minutes
before entering a bathroom, and
the VR VIPee, a mobile toilet
equipped with a VR headset so
you can peer out at whatever event
you might be attending and not
miss out while you’re otherwise
occupied. None of these is likely to
turn into a real product, but even
marketing gimmicks can offer us a
glimpse into the possibilities of the
future – and LuluPet’s smart litter
box (£TBC), which can analyse yourcat’s behaviour and the state of
their leavings to assess whether
they may have health issues, is
one of those products that sounds
ridiculous but has massive
practical benefit too.Strange but true
The weird and wonderful list goes
on. Knectek Labs is readying a
smart waste bin, the Townew,
which can detect overloading,
eliminate odours, seal up the bag
when it’s time for a change, and
even reload a new bag when you’re
done. Kohler, alongside
its really rather neat
under-sink Aquifer Refine
water filter system,
showed that it was
preparing an in-shower
Alexa module which
literally sits in the middle
of a showerhead – sounds
silly, but who doesn’t love
a tune or two while
getting ready in the
morning? Shine’s
Bathroom Assistant
($150, around £115) also
made an appearance.
Sit it next to your toilet,
and it’ll automatically
clean the bowl with
electrolysed water afterevery flush – it’ll also use its smart
sensors to tell if there’s a problem
with your plumbing, and both alert
you and get a repair kit shipped to
your door if it detects that there’s
something wrong.
Speaking of something wrong
(never let it be said that we’re not
masters of segues), health tech
was amongst the biggest trends at
CES 2020, and if you want to get
smart about your personal metrics
this looks to be the year for it. For
example, the Omron Complete
($199/around £153) combines a
blood pressure cuff and base-unit
EKG, with tracking features helping
you keep an eye on your vital stats
via Omron’s iOS app; Samsung,
meanwhile, has promised that its
health tracking app will inexplicably
be making the transition to its
latest line of smart TVs.
Valencell unveiled a very early
prototype of a blood pressure
monitor – something that’s still
reasonably rare in wearables – but
this time mixed with earbud tech.
The ear is apparently one of the
best places to take blood pressure
measurements, since there’s good
blood flow and ears tend to stay
at a constant distance from your
heart; Valencell’s technology looks
set to be shopped around to willingAPPLE HOME CES 2020
74 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2020
Place the Walabot Home
where its radar can reach as
much floor space as possible.