New frontiers in robotics at CES 2026

*The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is one of the largest trade events in the world. Every year, thousands of companies showcase their state-of-the-art technologies to over 100k attendees. It brings together global industry leaders, startups, and media, and is used to launch products and signal future tech trends. *

Henry Hickson, a Research Associate at the Hauert Lab, attended CES 2026. In this article he reports on the highlights of the show, exploring how physical AI is moving from experimental labs into consumer technology, and what this shift reveals about the future of robotics, autonomy, and real-world deployment.

It doesn’t take long after landing in Las Vegas to see the signs of CES 2026. Within minutes, gleaming LED screens announce the show’s presence, and those ubiquitous two letters: AI. One flavour of AI dominated the show, from Jensen Huang’s keynote speech to even the smallest booths on the show floor: physical AI.

While I went there looking for robotics, the phrase ‘physical AI’ was reaching the ears of even the most casual visitor. Brands best known for televisions, laptops, and home appliances were talking confidently about embodied intelligence. At CES 2026, physical AI – in practice, robots – was no longer niche.

As a first-time CES attendee, the sheer scale of the event was overwhelming. Even with ruthless efficiency, it would have been impossible to speak to every robotics exhibitor at the Vegas mega-show. What follows, then, is not a comprehensive survey, but a set of themes that emerged repeatedly over the week – reinforced by either repetition or hype surrounding the exhibits. Together, they offer a snapshot of where consumer-facing robotics stands today, and where it appears to be heading next.

A quick caveat for seasoned roboticists: this consumer space is a far-cry from our daily interactions with lab-based robotics. Much of what’s on display is not state of the art by academic standards – but it is innovative in a different way, shaped by consumer expectations and manufacturability.

It would be impossible to feature robotics at CES and not expect a wave of the biggest trend in recent robotics history: the rise of the humanoid. What once felt like a sci-fi dream is now a serious commercial and research focus, attracting intense interest from investors, companies, and the public. In some circles, the debate is whether humanoids are necessary at all, given the efficiency of other forms. At CES, however, they were possibly the most widespread and discussed representation of physical AI.

The range on display was vast. Booster showcased child-sized humanoids which deliver an education program on robotics. These were lined up in what resembled a classroom and were available to buy then and there – many of the classroom robots had bold red ‘SOLD’ signs attached. One Booster would set you back $10k.

Unitree drew crowds with a non-stop show of boxing, dancing, and acrobatics. While lacking in real-world application and still largely remote controlled, their rapid progress in motion capability is impressive. Unitree has achieved this with improved actuators and reinforcement learning. Their team stated that they added instabilities to their simulations, which makes the system more adaptable and gives confidence that each trick will run smoothly during demos. These boxing bots retail for $6k+ and are customisable for user needs.

Beijing-based Galaxea Dynamics are targeting research labs with a high-precision platform for foundation model development. Beginning with a simple robot arm with a camera and pincer gripper, they now offer a humanoid with inbuilt height adjustment for $70k. In addition, they are developing an open-source VLA as a starting point for users developing their own, task-specific setups. The result is an out-the box VLA system, reducing the barrier to entry for universities or R&D companies to develop their own twin armed VLA systems. Galaxea are proving especially popular with US institutions.

Home robots were one of the most popular categories at CES. SwitchBot presented H1, a wheeled humanoid with arms that slide up and down. At this stage it is likely becoming clear that the definition of a humanoid is becoming somewhat blurry – aside from the friendly face and human-dimensioned arms, the H1 isn’t exactly a human form. Trained by observing humans completing household tasks, the H1 has so far mastered tidying around the house and loading the washing machine – if still at a slower pace than a human. Release dates are uncertain, but the company is aiming to undercut the competition by reaching a $10k price point. It’ll be interesting to see how this develops.

The GR-3 humanoid by Shanghai-based Fourier caught my eye – its turtle-neck styled torso, emotive LED eyes and automotive-upholstered soft skin makes for a standout aesthetic. Its dextrous hands were shown off in close interactions with visitors via tic-tac-toe games, where it never lost. I was happy to pull off a tie. The reason for these close interactions is that GR-3 is targeted for healthcare providers, for social interaction and physical tasks around care homes and hospitals. Retailing at $100k, the primary customers are still research labs.

An unexpected development for many was the entrance of large consumer brands into the humanoid space. LG’s CLOiD, integrated with its smart home ecosystem, embodied the idea of a “zero-labour home.” The CLOiD is a wheeled humanoid with a friendly LED face. Somewhat tentative in its movements, it was able to retrieve items from the fridge and fold a towel. This is still very much in development, but watch this space.

Paxini’s offerings sit exactly in the popular intersection between humanoid and wheeled robots, with an adjustable wheeled base, a floating torso adjustable up and down by rotating joints, and a humanoid upper body. Utilising VTLA models, they are targeted to move crates in warehouses or parts on factory floors, with several units already deployed.

GalBot presented another wheeled, VLA-focused platform, with demonstrations of crate stacking in a warehouse-style environment and customer service tasks in a mini convenience store setup. The platform features an adjustable torso with attached arms and head. The company has invested heavily in VLA development for manipulation, navigation, following, and dancing. They highlighted the challenge of tuning models for each platform, again pointing to data collection as a key bottleneck. Despite this, the team is pushing toward near-term deployment.

The aptly named company Humanoid, representing the UK contingent of roboticists, showcased a deployment-focused wheeled system in the form of the HMND 01 Alpha Wheeled platform. The large rectangular industrial base clearly signals a platform designed for real-world factory work rather than show-floor demos. This focus was reinforced by Humanoid’s recently announced partnership with Schaeffler, with whom they were exhibiting at CES. A smooth demo showed the height-variable robot moving metal rings between bins. While near-term efforts are firmly industrial, the team stated that a legged version better suited to home environments remains part of their longer-term roadmap.

Schaeffler’s second humanoid partner at CES, Agility Robotics, is also focused on production-ready systems for the factory floor – this time, with a fully legged platform. Their distinctive backward-knee design has been under development for many years, and the full-height robot on show was clearly built for industrial