Trending At CES 2018: AI And VR Power Robots, Digital Assistants

The newest tech gadgets were put on display at the CES Unveiled media event on Sunday evening.

From the first humanoid robot powered by Amazon Alexa, to a recliner that delivers an immersive music experience, the show's exhibitors are aiming to give consumers a glimpse of what life will be like when newer technologies become mainstream. CRN reporters Kyle Alspach and Lindsey O'Donnell expect digital assistants and virtual reality to lead the conversation over the next week at CES, with the former relying on cloud-based artificial intelligence services that only a handful of companies have successfully built.

"I think last year we saw Amazon Alexa, and this year we have Google Assistant and some other ones," said O'Donnell. Alspach added that VR is moving out of a consumer focus and into B2B applications, while AR [augmented reality] is doing the opposite and becoming more of a consumer topic.

CRN coverage of CES 2018 right here