Category: Tech

It was an interesting year for robots at CES 2025. While we had hoped the AI boom would bring a new wave of useful robots to the show, it seems that many robotics companies are still figuring out exactly how to best use AI. 

What we found instead was a mix of adorable robot companions, strange concepts and one, slightly terrifying humanoid. We visited a lot of robots at CES and, for better or worse, some really left an impression on us. These are the ones that stood out the most.

TCL Ai Me

Karissa Bell for Engadget

Of all the surprisingly adorable robots we saw at CES, TCL’s Ai Me (pronounced “Amy”) was one of the cutest. The concept was on display at TCL’s booth delighting and bewildering everyone who walked by. With a voice and eyes that are meant to sound like an actual human child, TCL seems to be pitching this as an emotional support/companion robot for kids. At the booth, Ai Me wasn’t doing much besides moving around in its wheeled, egg-shaped base, but the company says that the AI-powered robot could be used to control smart home devices or record vlogs, thanks to built-cameras and AI capabilities. 

For now, it’s unclear if TCL actually plans to sell this thing, but the company seemed to have put quite a bit of effort into its CES demo. In addition to the one slowly wheeling around a mock-up living room, TCL showed off a lineup of different outfits, including fuzzy bunny suits and a denim vest, for Ai Me. -Karissa Bell

Ropet

Karissa Bell for Engadget

As we walked over to the Ropet booth, a person was waving a plastic hotdog in front of the little robot and small cartoon hotdogs flashed across its eyes in response. I was pretty much sold at that moment, but it turned out to have some other pretty interesting things going on too. Ropet responds to voice, touch and gestures, and has its own cute little emotional reactions. It’s conversational if you want it to be, with ChatGPT integration. Mostly it’s just adorable. -Cheyenne MacDonald

Mirumi

Cheyenne MacDonald for Engadget

Mirumi is one of those CES oddities that makes you simultaneously go, “What the hell is this?” and, “Omg I love this.” It’s small, fluffy and has no other purpose than to make you smile by looking around and staring at you like an innocent baby. I immediately felt the need to protect it with my life. — CM

Romi

Cheyenne MacDonald for Engadget

Romi is a conversational robot that fits in the palm of your hand and is here for you if you want to chat, vent or just hang out. The newest model of the robot turned up at Unveiled, and we couldn’t help but be charmed by its cute facial expressions. It fits nicely in your hands, so you can carry it around the house with you while you walk around complaining about your workday. -CM

Miroki

Cheyenne MacDonald for Engadget

Miroki was at CES last year, but the Enchanted Tools team was back showing off the latest version and some new skills, including LLM integration. If you were able to fight through the crowd surrounding it to get up close, you may have seen it rolling around waving at people, blinking its big cartoon eyes and flicking its ears like a deer. Undecided on whether it’s cute or a little unnerving. -CM

Scorpion

Scorpion is an AI bartender from Richtech Robotics that unfortunately wasn’t slinging drinks when we saw it (or scuttling around, apparently it doesn’t do that), but did perform a synchronized dance to “Apt.” with the company’s Adam bot. Come for the arthropodal robot, stay for the K-pop. -CM

Unitree G1 and “Robot Dog”

Karissa Bell for Engadget

Of all the robots we saw at CES 2025, Unitree’s take the prize for most terrifying. The company was showing off its new quadruped “robot dog” and humanoid G1 robots. The quadruped, which is essentially their take on Boston Dynamic’s Spot robot, showed off to onlookers by running around the booth, climbing stairs and sitting on its “hind legs.”

But it was the G1 that proved to be the robot we needed to worry about. I was taking photos of the roughly 4-foot tall humanoid when it suddenly ran at me full-speed. I was only a foot or so in front of it at the time due to the crowd in the booth, so the roughly 60-pound G1 slammed directly into my body at an all out run. The surrounding crowd met I was essentially pinned in place for a few seconds while the robot continued to attempt to run through me until its operator was able to regain control. Fortunately, this was a case of user error and not the beginning of a robot uprising. The person holding the gamepad-like controller for the robot had mistakenly mashed the joystick, sending it directly into my body. At least I can now say I know what it feels like to be body slammed by a robot. -KB

Mi-Mo

Cheyenne MacDonald for Engadget

One of the more unusual robots we saw at CES, Mi-Mo is a six-legged table with a lamp on top. We didn’t see Mi-Mo do much besides shimmy around the show floor and “wave,” but there are some really interesting ideas behind the AI-powered robot. It runs on multiple large language models and “thinks and acts” based on its environment. Its creators say it could help with childcare and eldercare tasks. Mi-Mo will be available to developers and researchers as a dev kit later this year. -KB

Reachy 2

Daniel Cooper for Engadget

Pollen Robotics was here at CES showing off Reachy 2, it’s latest machine that’ll cost you $75,000 if you have that sort of cash laying around. It’s an adorable open-source machine with a human pilot that, its makers say, is ideal for tele-operation and data acquisition. I just think it’s cute, especially when it waves at you. -Daniel Cooper

Additional reporting by Daniel Cooper.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/the-robots-we-saw-at-ces-2025-the-good-the-bad-and-the-completely-unhinged-174529774.html?src=rss

As the world turns, so do the console generations. The Nintendo Switch is over seven years old, so it’s due for a refresh. Nintendo Switch 2 rumors have been swirling for years, but now they are really heating up. A sequel to Nintendo’s most successful home console ever is coming and it’s likely coming sooner rather than later.

Will it be a straight up sequel to the Switch with updated specs while retaining the same hybrid functionality or will Nintendo get weird with it? Will it even be called the Switch 2, or will the company go with something like the Super Switch or even the New Nintendo Switch? You can never tell with Nintendo. Heck, maybe it’ll call the thing the Switch U.

In any event, recent weeks have brought feverish speculation regarding all aspects of the forthcoming gaming console. It’s important to note, however, that very little information has been confirmed by Nintendo. The company operates on its own timetable. With that said, here are all of the rumors that are most likely to come true, given industry analysis.

When will the Nintendo Switch 2 be announced?

As previously mentioned, Nintendo marches to the beat of its own drum. We don’t exactly know when it’ll hold an event to reveal the console. A lot of people wrongly assumed it would happen toward the latter part of 2024, but that didn’t happen. 

Even Nintendo has trouble keeping the lid on a major console release, so we could learn something before the official reveal. There are parts that have to be sourced and shipments that have to be made. A senior analyst at MST Financial noted a spike in production equipment spending by Nintendo assembler Hosiden.

When will the Nintendo Switch 2 come out?

Once again, this is more or less a mystery. We aren’t totally in the dark, but it’s mostly rumor and speculation. One thing we know for sure is that Nintendo will announce the Nintendo Switch 2 (or whatever it chooses to call it) by March 2025, as the company confirmed back in May. Some are saying there will be a March release date, which makes sense given the OG Switch came out on March 17, 2017. However, other reports put the console’s release window later in 2025.

Accessory manufacturer Genki, which has been a major source of leaks in recent months, claims the console will be released in April. 

Will it even be a proper Switch sequel?

Nintendo has a weird track record here. The baffling Wii U followed the massive success of the Wii. The Wii itself followed the more traditional GameCube. In other words, it’s possible it’ll be something out of left field and not exactly a true sequel to the Switch. However, this is unlikely this time around. As much as I would love to see wacky VR glasses or a completely bonkers console concept, all points indicate a more traditional approach.

Developers have already seen the hardware, though in a much earlier form, and it seems to be a regular old console. While Nintendo hasn’t confirmed hybrid functionality, it’d be a weird omission given the absolute financial firestorm of the Switch. We’ve also heard rumors of a Mini-LED display, which would track for a hybrid console. It’s highly likely this will be a straight-up Switch 2, or something like it, calling to mind the Super Nintendo.

To that end, recent rumors suggest a design that recalls the original Switch. According to reporting by VGC, photos of the console have appeared online and they show an 8-inch screen and magnetic Joy-Con controllers. There looks to be SL/SR buttons and front-facing player LEDs on these controllers. 

Will there be a bit of Nintendo weirdness? 

Everything leaked or rumored so far on this console has been fairly, well, traditional. It looks like the original Switch, but better. That’s awesome, but will there be any of that unpredictable Nintendo magic? Maybe! Recent reports indicate two puzzling additions that folks can’t make hide nor hair of. 

An accessory maker called Genki accidentally leaked an alleged mockup at CES 2025 of the entire console. If the Switch 2 is coming sooner rather than later, it makes sense that accessory makers would have these kinds of mockups. There looks to be a mysterious “C” button on the bottom-right side and nobody knows what it does. Could it initiate voice chat during gameplay? Could it calibrate the controllers? Could it create a room-sized hologram of Bowser in your living room? We’ll have to wait and see, and there’s always a chance that the button won’t even exist. 

Now onto the updated Joy-Cons, those same leaks seem to indicate a new sensor on the connecting side of each controller. It looks a whole lot like an optical sensor, which is what a computer mouse uses. This has led to speculation that players will be able to flip the Joy-Con over and use it like a mouse.

But why would anyone even want this? I can think of three words. New Mario Paint. In any event, take all of that Genki stuff with a big grain of salt, as Nintendo came out and said that the images and video were “not official.” The accessory manufacturer has also stated that its mockup wasn’t based on an actual console, but rather “leaked information that’s circulating in the industry.”

Is the Nintendo Switch 2 backwards compatible?

If it’s a sequel to the Switch, the next question has to be about backwards compatibility. The Switch’s library is absolutely massive, and continues to grow, so gamers would be rightfully peeved if they couldn’t play Tears of the Kingdom on their new next-gen console. There’s good news on this front.

The company has officially announced in a recent earnings report that the console will be fully backwards compatible. It will also feature access to Nintendo Online, so users will be able to play all of those old retro titles. 

What about specs?

The rumors regarding specs are all over the place, so it’s tough to pin down. We know one thing for sure: It’ll be more powerful than the ancient Switch hardware, which was already antiquated back in 2017. One analyst allegedly got a hold of a spec sheet from the Korean United Daily News that said the Switch 2 would boast an eight-core Cortex-A78AE processor, 8GB of RAM, and 64GB of internal eMMC storage. This tracks for me, as these specs are about as underpowered in 2024 as the original Switch was in 2017. However, some reports do indicate that the console would include 12GB of RAM. 

Another source suggests that the eight-core CPU will be packaged inside an NVIDIA-produced Tegra239 SoC (system on a chip). Given the current Switch runs on an NVIDIA chip, that makes a lot of sense. The CPU will be more powerful, but it’s the Switch 2’s new GPU that will be a major differentiator. It’s all-but-confirmed that the Switch 2 will support DLSS, NVIDIA’s “deep learning supersampling” upscaling tech, which would allow the console to render games at a low resolution internally while outputting a high-resolution image. (Fun fact: We actually wrote about how perfect DLSS was for the Nintendo Switch 2 when the technology was announced alongside the RTX 20 series back in 2018.)

There are still questions about the Switch 2 and DLSS: Will the system support newer DLSS features like frame generation? Will existing games be automatically tidied up by NVIDIA’s algorithm? Regardless of the exact implementation, DLSS upscaling will be a huge leap over the rudimentary techniques available to Nintendo Switch developers.

As for the display, there are many conflicting rumors. Early reports from solid sources suggested the Switch 2 would have an 8-inch display LCD display, but there have also been rumors about an 7-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate. Some analysts have suggested this would be an OLED screen, while others have said it would be a Mini-LED display. A Mini-LED display is basically an LCD display that has a backlight made of (surprise!) mini-LEDs rather than edge lighting. This allows for local dimming, making the blacks more black. I’m hedging my bets here. I think it’ll be a standard LCD, to cut costs, with an OLED or Mini-LED model coming later down the line. However, Mini-LED screens are slightly cheaper than OLED displays, so that’s certainly a possibility at launch.

As for resolution, recent reporting suggests that the console will output 1080p in handheld and 4K when docked. That’s much better than the OG Switch. 

How much will the Nintendo Switch 2 cost?

We don’t have too much information regarding price but we do have plenty of history to work with. The original Nintendo Switch launched at $300, which is pretty much the “magic number” when it comes to Nintendo console releases in recent years. The Wii U also came in at $300. 

However, there are plenty of rumors circulating that Nintendo could be upping the asking price for the Switch 2. Numerous outlets have reported it’ll be $400, or potentially even more expensive. However, the same analysts who say the console will be $400 were also fairly certain it would be out by the end of 2024 and, well, it looks like that ain’t happening. 

Dipping back into history, there is some precedence for a price uptick. The GameCube was $200 and the Wii was $250. The Wii U and Switch increased to $300 and, well, numbers like to go up. A $400 price tag would make it nearly as expensive as a PS5 and Xbox Series X. That would also put it at the same price as the 256GB LCD Steam Deck. 

Do we know about any launch games?

Nope! But it’s certainly been a long time since we’ve gotten a proper 3D Mario adventure, right? That would be one heck of a system seller. Other than that, your guess is as good as mine. Past as prologue, we can expect something from Ubisoft and an off-the-wall title like 1-2-Switch. 

If there’s a gimmick or hook involved with the console, we’ll also get a game that takes advantage of that. A dual release of Metroid Prime 4, just like Breath of the Wild and Twilight Princess before that, is also a possibility. Finally, there have been rumblings that the big launch title could be none other than Mario Kart 9. 

That’s everything we know about the Nintendo Switch 2 today. We’ll update this article with rumors we trust and with information we gather directly from sources. Any changes made to the article after its initial publishing will be listed below.

Update, January 10, 2025, 12:40 PM ET: This story has been updated with details about the Switch 2’s alleged “C” button, along with the Joy-Con optical sensors. We also wrote about the announcement window and launch games. Finally, we covered announcements from Nintendo and Genki regarding a potential leak. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-switch-2-everything-we-know-about-the-upcoming-console-110023968.html?src=rss

It was while walking past the RadioShack booth at CES 2025 that I spied the Kodak stand not far ahead. And it was while musing about the fate of those two storied — okay maybe not storied — names that I spied another Kodak booth two rows over. For a company that’s been dead more than a few times over, it’s certainly enjoying something of a renaissance. Look, it’s not as if there haven’t always been brands that die and get revived in pursuit of a quick buck. Especially if the price is cheap and there’s any residual degree of affection for it, but even so there are a hell of a lot of them now. Do we need four different companies selling Kodak-branded wares? 

Daniel Cooper for Engadget

Perhaps the most egregious example at this year’s show was from Mizari, an LA-based company that sells hardware under a variety of names. This year, it was showing off a lineup of products under the Memorex brand, including e-bikes, scooters and golf caddies. If you’re unfamiliar, Memorex made recordable media in the analog era: computer and cassette tapes, VHS, CDs and eventually DVDs. Its slogan was “Is it live, or is it Memorex?” boasting its superior audio quality. Does that slogan work as well for e-bikes, scooters and golf caddies? That’s less clear.

Daniel Cooper for Engadget

The company’s representatives said that using the Memorex name was an experiment to see how much affection the public has for the brand. They’re targeting people over the age of 40 who remember what they slammed in their tape decks. At the same time, they’re targeting younger generations who may feel the pull of that retro name, since we’re apparently in an era where anything old is inherently laudable. Mizari also holds the license for Delorean, albeit just to make e-bikes, scooters and go-karts, for the kids, you know?

Daniel Cooper for Engadget

RadioShack has been passed from owner to owner since it initially filed for Chapter 11 back in 2015. In May 2023, it was bought by Unicomer, a RadioShack franchisee from Central and South America which is now relaunching the parent brand in the US. It will act, like so many of these companies, as a distributor, adding its name to a variety of products made elsewhere. Its lineup is already 400 products strong, from gaming keyboards and mice to portable projectors and speakers. The idea, as you might have guessed, is to cash in on the fact people likely remember the name of this over some generic product they’ll find among the dregs on Amazon. 

Daniel Cooper for Engadget

The two Kodaks nearby share the Kodak name, but very little else: One is showing off the Kodak Mini Shot (lead image), made by Prinics Co. Walk 50 yards further down the plush CES carpet and you’ll find another Kodak (pictured above), this one selling digital photo frames and tablets. Staffers at both booths are happy to talk about which part of the sprawling Kodak license they are paying for. Hell, the latter Kodak stand was also advertising those same products under the Thomson name, an old French electronics company that was rebranded as Thales 25 years ago.

Daniel Cooper for Engadget

A little walk and you’ll soon find a large stand from RCA, which also holds the names Thomson and Blaupunkt. All three are nothing more than names and logos slapped on products that are shipped in from various manufacturers. RCA is famously known for making radio equipment and other electronics before branching into broadcasting, music and movies. So it’s natural, too, that you can pick up an RCA-branded e-bike and scooter, cashing in on all those bikes RCA made when your pop pop was in diapers.

Daniel Cooper for Engadget

Next to Mizari’s Memorex-branded exhibits was the third Kodak booth I’d stumbled across, this one showing off a wide variety of products. This included smartwatches, cameras, binoculars, mirrors with halo lighting and Bluetooth speakers, all made by various licensees. And, quite literally two booths over, was another Kodak stand, this time from C&A Global, which makes Kodak branded photo printers (and the HP Sprocket) as well as projectors and scanners.

Daniel Cooper for Engadget

I’m not sure I need to wave my hands around and try to make some sort of grand point about All Of This. One one hand, it doesn’t matter. Lots of low-cost products are sold to folks who aren’t going to interrogate their purchases. Given how common the practice of buying a dead brand and slapping it on whatever you sell, it must be profitable enough to justify doing it. But it just leaves me scratching my head, wondering who’s going to remember the tape company from the ‘90s and want to ride an e-bike with its logo on the side. Or who would think there’s any trust left in the Kodak brand given the near-homeopathic levels of dilution it’s subjected to. Maybe these companies’ real lingering value is to serve as a reminder to all the other tech brands that this is the fate that awaits them if they keep messing up. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/a-tale-of-four-kodaks-173040742.html?src=rss