WEBVTT - CES 2019 Overview 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:07.160 Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:13.640 stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:16.840 I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:20.239 I Heart Media and I love all things tech, and 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:25.360 today I am recording from a hotel suite in Las Vegas, Nevada. 0:00:25.960 --> 0:00:29.159 And if you hear noises in the background and it 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:32.320 sounds a little odd, that is the reason why, or 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:34.680 at least one of them. Another, of course, is that 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:39.000 I'm tired. But I am here for the two thousand 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:46.320 nineteen c e S, the Consumer Electronics Show, which is 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:51.000 the largest consumer electronics industry show, at least in North America, 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:54.440 and it's been going on for decades. This is my 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:58.000 tenth time attending c e S, although I did take 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:00.640 a year off last year. Nowise it would have been 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:05.959 in my eleventh time. And this show is enormous. It 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:08.960 doesn't take place in just one spot in Las Vegas, 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:13.280 Nevada anymore. It it covers lots of different grounds. So 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:18.440 there are exhibitors at the Sands Expo Center, which is 0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:22.800 next to the Venetian Casino in Las Vegas. There are 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:27.040 all three of the halls of the Las Vegas Convention 0:01:27.120 --> 0:01:31.000 Center are filled up with exhibitors, and they're more in 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:34.640 other locations as well throughout the city, including some places 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:38.160 like hotel suites and stuff where there are companies that 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:42.600 have rented out a suite and they did so in 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:45.200 order to kind of have maybe a quieter experience. A 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:48.640 lot of the high end audio exhibitors will do that 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:52.120 so that they're not competing in a noisy space. In 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:56.240 other cases, it's because exhibition space might be really expensive 0:01:56.280 --> 0:01:59.800 and trying to compete with everybody else isn't terribly attractive, 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:01.920 so some companies will run out as suite and try 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:04.200 and get people to come to the suite to go 0:02:04.280 --> 0:02:06.720 check it out, although that's always difficult if you plan 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:09.440 on seeing a lot of stuff each day, because it 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:12.600 means leaving the main areas in order for you to 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:15.000 go check out something else, and getting around in Las 0:02:15.080 --> 0:02:18.799 Vegas can take some time. Like you know, you might think, oh, 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:20.480 well that that will just be twenty minutes out of 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:21.760 my way, and it turns out it's an hour and 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:23.760 a half and you lose that time. And the show 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:27.359 floor is only open a certain number of hours each day. Today, 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:29.600 as I record, this is the first day that the 0:02:29.600 --> 0:02:32.160 actual show floor will be open to the public, the 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:35.240 public that is that have bought badges for c e S. 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:39.560 And it doesn't open until ten am UH Pacific time, 0:02:39.720 --> 0:02:42.960 And as I record this, it is nine twenty a m. 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:46.880 Pacific time, so I have not actually been on the 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:50.799 exhibit floor space yet, but the press day has already happened. 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:53.400 A couple of big press events have already happened where 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:55.400 companies have tried to get a kind of a head 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:59.560 start and try to get their stuff seen before being 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:02.840 lost in the cacophony of the general chaos that is 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:05.840 c e S. And a lot of the bigger news 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:09.840 outlets out there, like Wired and Gadget, the Verge c Net, 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:13.720 they're already starting their coverage of the showroom floor because 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:16.720 they get early access. So today I thought I would 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:19.840 give an overview of some of the stuff that is 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:23.919 happening at c e S and and give an idea 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:27.280 of the trends that we're seeing. I will probably record 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:30.360 more after I get a chance to walk some of 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:34.080 those floor myself. Granted, I'm gonna have to pick either 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:36.400 the convention Center or the sands today because you can't 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:38.920 really do both. In the same day, so I'll probably 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:41.200 do the sands today. That's where you get a lot 0:03:41.200 --> 0:03:46.200 of your startups, your smaller companies. Uh, you're Eureka Park 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:48.680 is there. That's the one that's known for like some 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:53.640 of the more ambitious startup ideas. Uh. And then in 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:57.320 the convention center you tend to have the larger established companies, 0:03:57.720 --> 0:04:02.320 companies like Intel, Sony, you know, Samsung, that kind of 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:05.680 stuff they're they're in the convention center and you can 0:04:05.680 --> 0:04:10.240 see neat stuff in both. But uh, I am going 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:13.760 to give several caveats to this. First of all, because 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:17.360 the show is so huge and I am one person. Uh, 0:04:17.400 --> 0:04:19.919 there's a ton of stuff I haven't even seen or 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:22.400 heard of yet, I'm sure. And even if I spent 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:27.080 every hour that the show is actually open, walking through 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:30.000 that floor space and looking everywhere I can and never stopping, 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:33.479 I still wouldn't see everything. There's just too much here. 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:35.400 The show is too big for any one person to 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:38.040 see everything. Even if you were only trying to hit 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:40.560 the high spots, you probably wouldn't see all of them 0:04:40.600 --> 0:04:43.440 because they're spread out pretty far. And again, just getting 0:04:43.440 --> 0:04:45.600 from point A to point B can take quite some time, 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:48.200 so This is going to be as a mile high 0:04:48.360 --> 0:04:51.719 overview of the two thousand nineteen show. And before I 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:53.400 get to some of the stuff that was going on, 0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:56.279 one of the things I need to talk about is 0:04:56.360 --> 0:04:59.800 not so much technological nature, but political in nature, and 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:03.360 it's because it has a direct impact on the show. 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:06.480 You can't get around it. So in the United States 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:10.680 currently we have a partial government shutdown. In other words, 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:14.480 the government right now, many departments within the government are 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:18.880 currently unfunded. They have no money to run, so they 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:24.080 are they're shut off, and the workers aren't working their 0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:28.560 furloughed essentially without pay. So this has had its effect 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:31.279 on c e S in several ways. One of those 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:33.480 is that there were a lot of US government officials 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:36.400 who originally were supposed to attend c e S and 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:40.120 be part of various presentations and panel discussions, and now 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:44.240 they're not because there you know, their their departments are 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:46.919 shut down, so they don't even have the budgets to 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:50.640 travel to places, so they've all canceled their presentations. That 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:54.799 includes people like a Jitpi, the FCC chairman, and Brendan 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:58.320 Carr also of the f C, C Rohit Chopra and 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:01.480 Rebecca Slaughter both of the f TC and the Federal 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:05.320 Trade Commission, and Brandon Bray and Barnes Johnson of the EPA, 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:09.080 the Environmental Protection Agency, among others. So there were a 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:12.600 lot of like important people in the US government who 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:16.159 were meant to come out and have these conversations about 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:20.279 technology who can't. Now it really means that there's a 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:24.200 missed opportunity for interaction between consumer tech companies and US 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:28.479 government agents in a publicized setting to kind of create 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:35.080 a public message of what the current strategy is for 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:38.800 developing consumer tech and its role in the lives of 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:41.520 everyday American people, as well as the future of America, 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:44.880 the future of American industry. All those are very important 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:48.880 messages that kind of gut pushed to the side because 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:53.160 of this government shutdown. More than that, in the United States, 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:56.720 every electronic device that emits radio frequencies has to receive 0:06:56.760 --> 0:07:00.600 certification from the f c C upon moving that this 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:04.440 device can operate within safe parameters in those radio frequency emissions. 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:07.400 And a lot of companies are debuting brand new technology 0:07:07.440 --> 0:07:10.160 at c e s and with the government shut down, 0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:14.520 the fcc cannot do this important step. They they can't 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:18.360 go through the certification process, which means in the United States, 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:21.760 these devices are effectively in limbo until the government is 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:25.080 funded again. So that has a very real impact on 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:28.840 these companies. And also the shutdown has affected travel across 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:33.120 the United States. T s A employees the Security Agency. 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:35.840 They're not being paid, so a lot of people are 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:40.239 calling out sick because they need to work other jobs 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:42.360 in order to make ends meet. So they're they're not 0:07:42.440 --> 0:07:46.320 necessarily really sick, but they're calling out sick in order 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:48.560 to go work other jobs and actually make some money 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:53.400 because otherwise they have to work without pay. And uh, 0:07:53.480 --> 0:07:57.040 it's it's a critical role that they fell to help 0:07:57.160 --> 0:08:00.920 ensure safety or at least, if you're very kunicle, put 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:05.520 on security theater. But either way, it's getting harder and 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:09.960 harder for that too, uh to happen because they're not 0:08:10.320 --> 0:08:13.480 getting any salary. So that's also had a big impact, 0:08:13.520 --> 0:08:16.320 not just on the tech companies obviously, but anyone traveling 0:08:16.360 --> 0:08:20.200 to come to this show. But that's the government shut 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:24.480 down and how it's impacting the world right now, in 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:27.320 the United States or the world, the I guess the 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:30.560 world because ce S is a global event. You have 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:33.520 companies from all over the world here at the conference 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:36.360 and attendees from all over the world as well, but 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:40.880 specifically affecting the United States. Moving on to what's actually 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:43.920 going on and being shown off here at the event, Well, 0:08:43.920 --> 0:08:47.120 there are always some broad trends that seem to emerge 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:50.800 during c e S. For example, uh Am, I very 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:54.520 first ce S eleven years ago. The theme I remember 0:08:54.559 --> 0:08:57.920 the most were widgets, these little web based widgets that 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:01.360 were on everything, like kind of like many apps, things 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:05.160 like weather widgets or news ticker widgets. Primarily they were 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:07.880 popping up on televisions, but they also would show up 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:11.240 on things like kitchen appliances like refrigerators or stoves, and 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:15.560 widgets gradually evolved into more holistic and useful interfaces for 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:18.880 smart devices, more like the operating systems you would find 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:23.040 on a tablet or smartphone. Another big theme back when 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:25.199 I first started going to see e S was three 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:28.920 D television, which was pushed really hard for several years, 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:32.240 and the industry is largely backed away from that over 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:35.480 the last maybe five six years. They received the loud 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:38.080 and clear message that the consumer tech market out there 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:40.600 just doesn't really care. They're not interested in three D 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:45.040 television's so what sort of big themes emerged this year. 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:48.520 Well some of them are the same ones that have 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:52.120 been around for years, new versions of technology that we've 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:56.280 had for ages. And this isn't me slagging off on 0:09:56.360 --> 0:09:59.480 the conference or on the companies at this conference. The 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:02.760 purpose of c e S ultimately is for these companies 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:05.760 to connect with retailers and with other companies, because some 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:09.560 of these companies are business to business companies, right like Intel. 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:13.239 Intel does most of its business working with other companies, 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:16.840 having their these other companies by the processors from Intel 0:10:16.880 --> 0:10:21.000 to incorporate into other products. That's the real reason for 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:25.680 CEES that often people like myself, people of the media 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:29.600 tend to forget, so to a lesser extent, ce S 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:32.720 is an opportunity for these companies to connect with the 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:36.040 press and to get some publicity for their stuff. But 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:39.760 largely it's for them to talk to other business folks 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:43.000 about you know, carrying products and stores things like that. 0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:47.679 They're talking about emerging lineups of products, and not every 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:50.600 new product is going to be a groundbreaking piece of 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:54.200 technology that breaks the mold and defines a new type 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:58.439 of gadget. There's going to be countless new laptops bluetooth speakers, 0:10:58.559 --> 0:11:03.200 computer peripherals, headphone owns, kitchen gadgets, smart locks, and every 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:06.880 other type of consumer electronic gadget you can imagine. They 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:10.479 this isn't exactly the stuff that tends to get reporters 0:11:10.600 --> 0:11:15.120 salivating about covering the products, right Like a reporter who's 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:17.520 been doing CS for a while might look at these 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:21.480 things and just to go like, great, another computer. But 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:23.840 at the same time, we wouldn't expect companies to just 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:27.160 keep selling the same old model of gadget year after year. 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:29.120 Of course, they're going to come out with new ones 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:33.720 that are maybe faster, more power efficient. They legitimately have 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:37.920 added value, but it may not be sexy enough for 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:41.079 the press to really get excited about it. So I'm 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:43.400 not going to cover all of that. That would take 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:47.680 thirty episodes about c e s about minute changes in 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:50.959 some technologies. So what are some of the more innovative 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:55.000 trends that are emerging. Well, artificial intelligence is a huge one, 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:59.319 and this is a tough theme to talk about because 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:03.240 people use the term AI so loosely and in connection 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:07.200 with all sorts of different concepts. Right, Like, artificial intelligence 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:10.199 is pretty much everything until you say it's not. Uh. 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:14.400 Some people refer to artificial intelligence in the sense of 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:18.800 machines that seemingly think like people. Others use it in 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:20.960 a more general way to talk about machines that are 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:25.200 capable of making certain choices based upon the parameters that 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:29.400 were programmed into those machines to you know, weigh all 0:12:29.400 --> 0:12:34.240 the different elements in any given decision making process before 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:37.320 coming to a conclusion, that kind of thing. But we're 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:39.880 really talking more about capabilities built into tech so that 0:12:39.920 --> 0:12:43.080 the tech can make some sort of choice on its own, 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:48.080 or learn from user behavior, and to customize and experience 0:12:48.160 --> 0:12:51.080 based on user behavior. So along with that, we're seeing 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:53.280 a continuation of a trend that really started to pick 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:56.599 up steam a couple of years ago, which is integrated 0:12:56.640 --> 0:13:01.200 support for AI assistance, you know stuff Alexa and Google 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:05.360 Home and Syrie and that kind of thing. Um Google, 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:08.640 which has a huge pop up building set up on 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:10.920 the parking lot of the Las Vegas Convention Center. I 0:13:10.920 --> 0:13:13.640 saw the building, haven't been in it yet, has announced 0:13:13.679 --> 0:13:17.800 that Google Home support will be on one billion devices 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:21.480 by the end of twenty nineteen. Most of those devices, however, 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:25.000 the company has admitted, are going to be phones, but 0:13:25.440 --> 0:13:28.400 there will be other devices as well. Meanwhile, security experts 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:32.079 and consumer advocates continue to express concern about things like 0:13:32.280 --> 0:13:37.880 consumer privacy, security, transparent policies. More people are starting to 0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:43.640 worry about devices that always have an active microphone going right, 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:47.079 whether it's a phone that's in their pocket, or maybe 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:49.360 it's a smart speaker on a side table, maybe it's 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:52.800 your car. And even if you go to great measures 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:55.160 to make sure that you don't have any of those products, 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:58.040 that none of your products have an active microphone that 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:01.160 could be potentially listening in on everything, categorizing all of 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:05.560 your conversations, and building out a more and more detailed 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:08.920 profile of your likes and dislikes. You can't be sure 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:11.959 that all the places you visit don't have those things. 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:14.640 Like even if you're out in public and people have 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:19.000 smartphones that have these assistance on them, it starts to 0:14:19.000 --> 0:14:21.960 make you really paranoid. But for good reason, because these 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:28.120 companies have repeatedly had data issues, data security issues that 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:33.480 call them to question their practices. So that is a 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:36.480 continuing conversation and one that I think has to be 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:40.480 addressed through Like I said in my wish list, transparency, 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:44.960 really good security measures all of that's incredibly important, and 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:48.880 ultimately we need to start making some decisions about how 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:53.880 okay are we at all this information being gathered. Even 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:57.200 if companies are saying they're not gathering that info, you know, 0:14:57.320 --> 0:14:59.560 they're all I can take is some lines of bad code. 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:02.960 Even if it wasn't intentional, it could still happen. So 0:15:03.200 --> 0:15:05.960 we have to start saying, well, how how much of 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:08.360 this do we want to trade off? Like, do we 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:12.600 find the benefit of these technologies to be so compelling 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:16.720 that we're willing to uh to deal with the fact 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:20.600 that we're being recorded, or that are the things we 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:23.680 say are being analyzed in a way that will affect 0:15:23.800 --> 0:15:26.680 us later on? And Uh, I don't have the answer 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:29.280 to that, mostly because I haven't seen the benefit being 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:33.560 so so incredibly compelling that I find the trade off 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:37.160 to be worthwhile. Anyway, Uh, that's going to be a 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:40.440 continuing conversation. I think we'll see in twenty nineteen. Now 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:44.320 related to AI was a new emphasis on robots, and 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:46.640 robots have been a big part of CS for as 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:49.160 long as I've been going, I mean ever since I started. 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:53.280 I've seen robots ranging from very primitive robots that are 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:57.360 essentially just the equivalent of one of those toys that 0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:00.440 will move when sound is playing, so the robot is 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:03.600 just kind of boogying down whenever music is in the area, 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:08.200 all the way up to robots that can more in 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:15.000 a more sophisticated way respond to questions and return useful information. Uh. 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:17.920 I'm pretty sure the first year when I went was 0:16:18.000 --> 0:16:19.800 the first time I saw a Parrot drone. I want 0:16:19.840 --> 0:16:22.600 to say that was like when Parrot first showed off 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:28.160 their consumer quad copter. And uh, every year since there's 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:30.440 been an army of new robots meant to do everything 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:33.120 from clean your floors to sweep out your gutters to 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:36.040 folding your clothes fresh aile of the wash. And we've 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:39.680 seen several robots meant to interact directly with people over 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:42.200 the years, but this year that seemed to be emphasized 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:45.120 a little bit more than usual. So companies are talking 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:49.240 more about designing robots specifically to work in human environments 0:16:49.600 --> 0:16:53.400 and to have meaningful human robot interactions. Now, personally, I 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:56.520 think this is a fascinating area of technology because it 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:59.880 requires not just a deep knowledge about tech in gen 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:03.880 role and robotics in particular, but also human psychology. You 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:07.080 have to understand people to be able to design robots 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:10.880 that can interact with people. And one of the challenges 0:17:11.000 --> 0:17:14.120 that is that our behavior as people are. Human behavior 0:17:14.160 --> 0:17:17.240 can change when we encounter robots. That if we were 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:19.560 to encounter another person, we might behave one way, but 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:22.399 when we encounter a robot, we might behave a different way, 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:27.199 and in turn, this can change the nature of that 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:30.680 human robot interaction. So designing robots that are meant to 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:35.040 seamlessly interact with people is incredibly challenging since it's kind 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:37.960 of like an idea and quantum mechanics, right, there's that 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:41.600 quantum mechanics principle that says you cannot observe a quantum 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:45.280 system without also affecting that system. In other words, you 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:47.520 can't make a measurement without affecting the thing that you 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:52.080 are measuring, which means your measurement is no longer an 0:17:52.119 --> 0:17:56.280 indication of what that thing was, it's now what that 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:59.840 thing is because you measured it. It's this mind been 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:03.639 in concept. Well with human robot interactions. You can't really 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:06.640 design a robot to work perfectly out of the gate 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:10.040 because people are not likely to react to that robot 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:12.800 in the way that you imagined when you started designing 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:16.000 the robot. So this involves a lot of design and 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:19.359 redesign work. You create a robot, you create the software 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:23.639 for it to guide its interactions. You find out people 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:26.040 are off put by the way the robot behaves, so 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:28.960 then you have to go back and adjust the robots behavior. 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:30.919 And now you find out that people are reacting in 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:33.000 a totally different way, and it's still not exactly what 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:36.040 you had planned. So you have to start asking yourself questions, 0:18:36.160 --> 0:18:38.720 how do I guide the behavior to be more like 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:41.160 the result I want? Or do I need to change 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:45.280 my expectations. This is a fascinating thing for me because 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:47.919 it really shows that you have to go beyond just 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:51.280 figuring out how to make stuff work, and then you 0:18:51.320 --> 0:18:53.840 have to figure out, well, how do we as people work, 0:18:54.240 --> 0:18:56.800 and how can we make stuff that works with us 0:18:56.840 --> 0:19:01.879 instead of against us or inspires us to work against it. 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:06.439 I hope that sometime this year I can have a 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:10.440 specialist in human robot interactions on the show to talk 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:13.360 about these concepts and these challenges, because I think it's 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:17.240 a really interesting area of technology, something that that goes 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:20.920 beyond uh. Like I said, the circuits and the tech 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:25.760 also at CES. This is not a surprise. If you've 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:28.680 been following the progress of the show over the last 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:31.800 several years, I'm sure you would have expected this. We 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:35.600 saw tons of driver less car concepts. Some of them 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:38.919 were practical demonstrations. Some of them were not truly driverless 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:42.320 car practical demonstrations. I'll talk more about one of those 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:46.000 in a bit, but there were tons in concept form. 0:19:46.640 --> 0:19:51.120 BMW introduced a concept called I Next, which is meant 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:54.320 to go into an autonomous car itself. Is not an 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:59.080 autonomous car. Instead, this is a mixed reality technology. Mixed 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:02.160 reality is what we all that type of tech that 0:20:02.280 --> 0:20:06.159 kind of incorporates stuff like virtual reality and augmented reality. 0:20:06.320 --> 0:20:09.639 So in this case, uh, it's a concept where you 0:20:09.640 --> 0:20:12.520 would have a car that could have at least some 0:20:12.600 --> 0:20:16.879 autonomous operations. Now, when the car takes over, then you 0:20:16.880 --> 0:20:20.880 could enact this I next platform. And it's a productivity 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:24.040 platform and an entertainment system, so you could do things 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:27.720 like look at your schedule, or watch television or have 0:20:27.920 --> 0:20:31.199 a video conference call, and you would see stuff projected 0:20:31.680 --> 0:20:36.200 on the windshield as if it were just a regular display. Uh. 0:20:36.280 --> 0:20:38.680 This obviously would require the car to be controlling itself, 0:20:38.760 --> 0:20:41.000 or else you would have a terrible accident because you 0:20:41.040 --> 0:20:44.760 would have someone's head up here, like Marlon Brando's face 0:20:44.840 --> 0:20:47.439 and Superman, and I think that would scare me to 0:20:47.440 --> 0:20:50.119 see Marlon Brando in the windshield of my car. For 0:20:50.400 --> 0:20:54.680 numerous reasons, his death being one of them. The BMW 0:20:54.720 --> 0:20:57.960 concept was shown off in virtual reality, so this was 0:20:58.000 --> 0:21:02.639 not a practical vehicle that they were putting people into, 0:21:02.720 --> 0:21:05.920 but rather a VR headset so that you could put 0:21:05.920 --> 0:21:08.520 it on. You'd have some controls at your disposal, so 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:11.560 it'd be like you're driving a vehicle and you could 0:21:11.600 --> 0:21:13.280 go through the demo to see what it would be 0:21:13.320 --> 0:21:15.679 like to hand over control of the vehicle to the 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:19.080 autonomous system and then engage the I next system. Now 0:21:19.160 --> 0:21:22.679 I did not do this. I did not do this 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:26.760 for two really big reasons. One is I don't drive. Actually, 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:29.240 I get anxiety about driving. It's a it's a phobia, 0:21:29.520 --> 0:21:31.600 and it's something I've had to deal with. It is 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:36.679 a terribly inconvenient phobia to have. Uh, it is socially embarrassing. 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:38.720 I've talked about it a couple times on the show. 0:21:39.240 --> 0:21:41.000 But I've been dealing with this my whole life, and 0:21:41.240 --> 0:21:44.640 I just haven't gotten any better at it. So that's 0:21:44.680 --> 0:21:47.280 one reason I actually get anxiety. Even with the whole 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:50.919 virtual driving thing. I don't even like driving video games 0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:53.640 that much. Um, the more arcady they are, the better 0:21:53.680 --> 0:21:56.320 I am at it. But I didn't want to give 0:21:56.359 --> 0:22:00.320 myself anxiety just sitting down to do a simple maneuver 0:22:00.480 --> 0:22:03.679 in a VR car and have it hand over to 0:22:04.720 --> 0:22:07.959 an autonomous vehicle. And I know, I know this is goofy. 0:22:08.040 --> 0:22:10.360 I know I'm a dufas. I get it. You don't 0:22:10.359 --> 0:22:12.640 have to tell me. I'm very aware. But the other 0:22:12.720 --> 0:22:16.879 big reason is kind of practical, y'all. Because this is 0:22:16.880 --> 0:22:20.119 a tech conference. There are hundreds of thousands of people here, 0:22:20.160 --> 0:22:22.240 or at least more than a hundred thousands of people 0:22:22.280 --> 0:22:25.639 here from all over the world. Some of those people 0:22:26.080 --> 0:22:30.640 are likely not entirely healthy right now. They probably have colds. 0:22:30.760 --> 0:22:34.240 That's cold flu season, so some of them are probably sick. 0:22:34.920 --> 0:22:39.240 Some of them, based upon what I have witnessed, failed 0:22:39.280 --> 0:22:42.280 to wash their hands after going to the restroom. And yes, 0:22:42.359 --> 0:22:46.280 this is gross, and I hesitate to even say it, 0:22:46.320 --> 0:22:48.800 but I have seen this over and over again at 0:22:48.840 --> 0:22:51.600 c e s. When you know I'm standing at the 0:22:51.640 --> 0:22:53.800 in the men's room, I'm I'm washing my hands, and 0:22:53.920 --> 0:22:57.199 someone just walks from the inside of the restroom straight 0:22:57.200 --> 0:22:58.960 out the door without washing their hands, and I think 0:22:59.000 --> 0:23:02.280 that is disgusting. Then I think I'm at a consumer 0:23:02.359 --> 0:23:07.120 electronics show where people pick things up and handle them 0:23:07.119 --> 0:23:09.679 and put them back down again for other people to handle. 0:23:10.720 --> 0:23:14.040 And you immediately think, I gotta wash my hands at 0:23:14.040 --> 0:23:16.440 every opportunity when I'm at this show. But then you think, 0:23:16.600 --> 0:23:19.960 I am definitely not putting on a VR headset that 0:23:20.160 --> 0:23:24.600