My Five Favorite Things I Saw at CES 2026.

Although CES doesn’t officially start until Tuesday, the conference will get a soft start of sorts with CES Unveiled. This event will feature a multitude of companies proudly showcasing their latest products and concepts in one massive hall. While there’s plenty to talk about, five products this year particularly caught my eye:

Tombot

Tombot’s robotic puppy, named “Jenny,” isn’t intended to replace a family pet. Instead, Jenny is specifically designed to help people with Alzheimer’s disease. This robot is a medical device designed not only to calm owners but also to monitor for “sunset syndrome,” or the confusion some people with Alzheimer’s experience at the end of the day and at night.

I can’t speak to its medical credentials, but I was impressed with Tombot. I’ve seen similar products before, but what struck me most was its realism. That’s not to say Tombot is trying to fool you into thinking there’s a real puppy on the table. But the company has designed the robot with enough motors and sensors to make it realistic enough. When you look at Jenny, she looks back; when you move, her face reacts accordingly, thanks to cleverly placed motors. There are capacitive touch sensors for touch, light sensors for adjusting the room’s lighting, gyroscopes for orientation, and microphones for sound.

Jenny is designed as an interactive robot: you can call her by name—either “Jenny” or a name set in the app—and she’ll respond, perhaps even barking. Tombot claims to have hired several ten-week-old Labrador puppies to record their bot’s voices. In total, when Tombot launches this year, Jenny will have approximately 1,500 unique behaviors.

Tombot told me that Jenny is designed to run all day on a single charge. When you’re away, Jenny can enter a power-saving mode, which should last for more than a week. When you return, Jenny will greet you immediately. Tombot says the robot will cost $1,500 at launch, but financing options will be available.

Cubic screen

What if you could turn your iPhone into a 3DS? At least, that’s what I concluded from CubicSpace’s CubicScreen concept. The company produces an iPhone screen protector with a built-in optical filter that allows you to view spatial photos and videos in 3D without glasses or a separate device. It’s your 2D iPhone in 3D.

I was a little skeptical when I walked past the booth, but in practice, the technology actually works. CubicSpace had 3D photos and videos saved in the CubicScreen app on the demo iPhones, and when viewed on the screen, they truly looked three-dimensional. It wasn’t like they “popped” out of the screen, but rather like a depth effect. If you’ve ever used the 3D feature on the 3DS, this is exactly the experience: you can see the depth behind objects in your photos and videos, heightening the immersion.

Part of the effect uses eye tracking to adjust the effect as you view the image. In this regard, the app supports zooming while maintaining the 3D effect. It’s a bit unusual: you zoom in on an image, and in most cases, it instantly transforms into 3D. Sometimes the effect disappears, and you realize you’re looking at a distorted image. But in most cases, in my experience, the effect persisted.

This 3D effect wasn’t just an editing trick: CubicSpace photographed Lifehacker Deputy Technical Editor Michelle Erhardt at the booth, and the photo instantly took on a 3D effect. The image overlay and software appear to work quickly.

CubicScreen will be priced at $79 at launch . The ordering page is currently available, but payment is not yet accepted.

Allergen warning

If you have a food allergy, you know the stress of not having control over your diet. Eating foods not prepared by yourself carries risks, and for some, those risks are unacceptable.

That’s why I was so intrigued by the Allergen Alert “mini-lab.” The idea is that if you want to know whether your food contains a certain allergen, you can draw a sample into the included container, place it in the mini-lab, and get a positive or negative result within two minutes. The device itself is small—about the size of a portable speaker—making it convenient for use in restaurants and other people’s homes.

The company currently claims the mini-lab can detect milk and gluten at concentrations of up to 5 parts per million, but the goal is to detect other major allergens, such as eggs, fish, soy, sesame, peanuts, shellfish, and tree nuts. Of course, I haven’t had the opportunity to test its ability to detect milk and gluten, so I can’t fully recommend this product. Furthermore, it’s currently unavailable: according to Allergen Alert, its launch is scheduled for September and will cost $200.

However, if Allergen Alert’s claims are true, this product could make a difference. A two-minute check of supposedly allergen-free food could literally save someone’s life and provide peace of mind to those who might experience serious adverse effects from consuming allergens.

Birdfy Hum Bloom

Birdfy unveils a new smart bird feeder concept almost every year at CES. While the company showcased its previous models at Unveiled this year, its newest prototype caught my eye.

The Hum Bloom isn’t designed for every bird that visits your home or garden. This product is specifically designed for hummingbirds. The Hum Bloom features a 4K camera capable of shooting slow-motion video at up to 120 frames per second. While this would capture the dramatic landings of any bird, it’s especially ideal for hummingbirds , which flap their wings hundreds or thousands of times per minute .

Birdfy claims that Hum Bloom’s AI can recognize over 150 hummingbird species, so you can see what kind of bird you’re watching in slow motion on your phone. Birdfy claims the feeder is “waterproof” and also features ant protection. Personally, I’m surprised that Birdfy is developing a slow-motion system specifically for hummingbirds. I look forward to video reviews from future users.

Opsodis 3D Speaker

This is one of those products that just can’t be captured in a photo. To understand why I was so impressed with this speaker, you have to hear it for yourself.

I admit, I wasn’t expecting much when I agreed to a speaker demo. Again, at first glance, Opsodis looks like a regular wireless speaker. But everything changed when the company representative showed a video on a connected iPad: suddenly, I could hear sounds next to my ears, behind my ears, and around my ears. I wasn’t really paying attention to what was happening on the screen because I was too distracted by the sound coming from the relatively small speaker right in front of me.

As it turns out, this wouldn’t work even if I placed the speaker just about anywhere. The demo used Opsodis’s “narrow mode,” one of three audio modes the speaker is capable of. Narrow mode provides a more powerful spatial sound but requires the speaker to be positioned close and directly in front of the user: specifically, 60 centimeters, or 23.62 inches, away. “Wide mode,” which I didn’t try, offers a softer spatial sound, and the third mode simulates standard stereo sound.

While it won’t provide a theater-like experience just by placing it in front of your TV, it was one of the most enjoyable experiences I had this evening at CES Unveiled.

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