Innovation and fresh implementation of ideas is what keeps technology going. After all, it exists to make our life better. So now that the curtains are down on this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2018), we shift our focus to the award winners.

CES has a wide range of awards every year — from computer accessories and peripherals to 3D printing, cybersecurity, gaming, biotech, etc. But we are going to tune our attention to the ‘Best of Innovations’ category, because as the name suggests, these devices and concepts bring new utility to the table and may well change our lives in some way in the near future. Here is our pick of the honorees:

Buddy the robot

Videos from the tech gala show us a bunch of people fawning over a moving object on the floor. Except, it’s not a cute pup or a kitten. It’s Buddy the robot, with an endearing smile and doe eyes, obliging humans with selfies.

This cute oddball has a variety of uses. Equipped with voice recognition, it can make video calls, do surveillance patrols, interact with other smart appliances, and also stream multimedia. Blue Frog Robotics, the company behind Buddy, is also inviting app developers to make apps for the robot. Buddy is expected to be launched officially soon.

Siren Diabetic Socks

Diabetes is a condition that is affecting an increasing number of people from various age groups. Apart from monitoring sugar levels, patients have to take care of other things like meal timings, exercise, and foot care. Foot injuries and inflammations need special care and these socks from Siren are designed to help with it.

The socks consist of smart sensors woven into the fabric. These sensors detect changes in temperature, which can imply a foot injury or inflammation. This information is sent to an app for storage and for action to be taken by the user. The socks are machine-washable and have a life of around six months and they turn on only when you’re wearing them. According to reports, these socks are up for pre-order.

Nuviz head-up display

Yes, those futuristic displays that project information in your line of vision as you drive/ride have become a reality. Head-up displays (HUDs) are slowly gaining traction in cars and at CES, one of the awards went to a HUD for a motorcycle.

This full-colour display from Nuviz fits on a rider’s helmet and projects information on the bottom corner. The display unit comes with a controller on the handlebar with which a rider can make and receive calls, toggle display, select music to play, etc. Powered by a 3,250 mAh battery with a claimed life of eight hours, this display is even made for being used in the rain. Start those motorcycles already!

Wi-Charge wireless charging

As of now, wireless charging is mostly a thing of privilege, available only on some high-end phones. And even the commercially available technology needs charging pads and other such paraphernalia. Start-up Wi-Charge aims to change that with infrared-powered wireless charging.

The set-up consists of two units, the transmitter unit that can fit on your ceiling like a light source and a receiver unit that is connected to your mobile or tablet to charge it.

The transmitter sends out infrared beams to the receiver, which converts them to electricity using photovoltaic cells like a solar panel does. The company claims the technology is completely safe and is US FDA approved.

Dynamics’ Wallet Card

Here’s a normal-looking credit card. But it isn’t. Well, it can be; but it can also be a debit card, a loyalty card, a prepaid card, or a multi-currency card. That’s because it’s digital. Dynamics Inc and Sprint partnered to showcase this offering at CES, which has internal parts such as a cell-phone chip and an antenna.

The profiles and details for the kind of card it can be are downloaded onto it and are programmed to the card’s magnetic strip, EMV, etc. Not just that, it also has a display that helps users switch between cards.

The best news for us tech enthusiasts in India is that our very own IndusInd bank is reportedly one of the first to partner with the manufacturers and this card could be available commercially soon.

This year’s CES, like the editions that preceded it, was a show replete with ideas and innovations that promise to take us ahead by big leaps.

But it has been seen in the past that a lot of these innovations and gadgets don’t really become commercially viable. It remains to be seen if the new tech this year goes on to become mainstream.

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