CES 2025's most intriguing new tech

CES, the annual tradeshow packing some of the latest – and often strangest – new technologies, returned to Las Vegas this week for its 2025 iteration.

Dominated by the continued rise of artificial intelligence and some interesting visions for consumer electronics, the event offered a glimpse of what we can expect to see on the market later this year.

From a rollable laptop screen to an umbrella with solar panels and even a “personal AI supercomputer” that fits on your desk — Information Age takes a look at the tech which captured our attention the most.

Robot vacuums are getting arms (and legs)

Not content with simply zooming around, robot vacuums are growing extra appendages left, right, and centre.

On the left and right sides we have the Dreame X50 Ultra, which has two small legs which the company says can push it up a step as high as 6cm.

Some robot vacuums have already been able to tilt up slightly to get over small rises and thick rugs, but a 6cm climb is (literally) a big step up for vacuum tech.

Previously only a concept design, Dreame’s new flagship model won the CES 2025 International Breakthrough Award and is expected to go on sale later this year.

_{The Dreame X50 Ultra robot vacuum. Image: Dreame / Supplied}

When it came to central appendages, Roborock’s new Saros Z70 vacuum — also coming this year — impressed onlookers with its ability to pick up items such as socks while driving around cleaning the floor.

The vacuum’s five-axis robotic arm, called the OmniGrip, could pick up things weighing up to 300 grams, Roborock said, and could identify other objects such as beanies, pieces of paper, and small towels.

The company confirmed the feature could be disabled if necessary, and there is an emergency button and child lock to prevent an I, Robot Vacuum situation.

_{Roborock’s Saros Z70 robot vacuum. Image: Roborock / Supplied}

Lenovo’s rollable laptop screen

First displayed as a concept design two years ago, Lenovo’s laptop with a flexible and retractable display is now going into production as the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6.

The device can roll out vertically from a 14-inch OLED display to a 16.7-inch display after pressing a dedicated button or making a gesture to the computer’s camera.

The laptop is designed mainly for business professionals and would help people get more work done, Lenovo said.

It could also be pretty useful for watching vertical video (à la TikTok) or streaming an extra window of content while you work — but you didn’t get that idea from us!

The laptop is expected to start at around $5,500 ($US3,499).

_{Lenovo's ThinkBook Plus Gen 6. Image: Lenovo / Supplied}

Nvidia’s ‘personal AI supercomputer’ and video game helpers

Nvidia, which dominates the AI chip market and has grown to be one of the world‘s most valuable companies, showed off some interesting uses of its latest tech.

Founder and CEO Jensen Huang unveiled “a personal AI supercomputer” called Project Digits, which appeared to be very powerful despite its relatively small size.

The product would offer a petaflop of AI computing performance “for prototyping, fine-tuning and running large AI models”, Nvidia said, meaning it could carry out a thousand trillion calculations per second.

“Placing an AI supercomputer on the desks of every data scientist, AI researcher, and student empowers them to engage and shape the age of AI,” Huang said.

Project Digits is expected to be available in May, starting at around $5,000 ($US3,000).

_{Nvidia's Project Digits AI supercomputer. Image: Nvidia / Supplied}

Nvidia also showed off some interesting applications of AI for gamers, including an upgrade to the typical non-playable characters (NPCs) we’re used to seeing in video games.

The company says it is expanding the autonomous game characters it first introduced in 2023, which it calls ACE, into “autonomous game characters that use AI to perceive, plan, and act like human players”.

These characters would be able to make decisions while using visual and audio data to perceive their in-game environments, Nvidia said.

Here's an example the company shared of how it would work in the popular game PUBG: Battlegrounds.

If you think you might need even more help, gaming hardware company Razer touted an “AI gaming copilot” which it said was designed to make its users better at video games.

The company said its Project AVA system would run through “millions of game simulations within seconds” to help users get instant expert advice “without ever having to tab out”.

A beta release is in the works for “later in 2025”.

This ‘phone toaster’ swaps batteries

Back on the quirkier side of CES, a company called Swippitt drew attention with its battery-swapping Swippitt Hub, which some reporters agreed looked like “a phone toaster”.

When a phone in a special Swippitt battery case is placed inside the device, it automatically replaces the drained battery with a charged one in just two seconds, the company said.

The Hub holds five charged batteries internally, which it then pulls in and out of the case on the user’s phone.

“This technology will change how people think about battery management and help lead the way towards a smarter, simpler path to power cellphones,” Swippitt founder and CEO Padraic Connolly said.

The device is expected to ship in June for iPhone models, with support for Android phones later in 2025.

_{The Swippitt Hub. Image: Swippitt / Supplied}