I eat cold, fizzy blue shaved ice, savoring the cold and surprisingly sweet blue of the sugar-free raspberry, wondering, as I often do at CES, “How did I get here?”
CES 2026 started last night – and for the uninitiated who don’t hesitate to tell me that I got the dates wrong, I’m talking about the fire of product releases and the carnival atmosphere which starts two days before the opening of the major trade shows. The event, known as CES Unveiled, is the official media kickoff gathering and our first opportunity to take the temperature of the world’s biggest technology event.
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Fake ski and sharp edges
Perhaps emboldened by saccarine, I then found myself “skiing” on the cement floor adjacent to the largely carpeted CES Unveiled ballroom.
Skwheel’s Peak and Peak S are best described as giant, motorized roller skates designed to recreate the feeling of skiing but on virtually any surface (other than snow). Company representatives explained how they initially created Peak boots to allow people to “ski” during the off-season, but quickly discovered that people really enjoyed the feeling of skiing on roads, hills and in parks.
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So, yeah, against my better judgment, I strapped them on, grabbed the remote that let me control the speed and braking, and took off…at maybe three miles an hour, doing my best to launch myself into imaginary slaloms. The Peak S can travel up to 20 mph and distances up to 37 miles, but I couldn’t afford to take a spill and ruin the rest of my CES.
It’s a fun take on mobility, but if you’re considering spending $990 to $1,490 for a Peak or Peak S, you’d better get serious about hard-surface skiing.
With my adrenaline pumping in the kitchen and my mouth still slightly blue from the slushy, I wandered over to take a look at the C-200 Ultrasonic Chef’s Knife. That’s $300’s worth of silently vibrating, cutting excitement.
I liked the look of the rechargeable blade, but was a little disappointed when I tried to use it to cut a tomato. It seems that even a knife infused with piezoelectric crystals vibrating at 30,000 times per second needs some finesse if you want to use it properly.
A home allergy laboratory
Nearby, I spotted a group of French-speaking technologists explaining their hand-sized device, Allergen Alert, which can break down your food, squeeze it, then test it for allergens like milk and gluten, and display the results on a connected iPhone app.
It may be the first consumer device capable of bringing such testing to the home, but it won’t come cheap: $200 to start, then $25 for six sachets, in which food is crushed, then tested, then thrown away. But hey, peace of mind is priceless.
As for AI, it was on display in Nosh, a $2,000 robotic cooking device that integrates 500 recipes, mixes ingredients, then uses AI and a camera to monitor food in real time and evaluate how meal preparation is going.
Unfortunately, they weren’t allowed to cook in the ballroom, so Nosh went through the motions, but no one was munching on his Asian cuisine.
Either way the wind blows
There have been other interesting discoveries, such as the man who created GeoWind, a geodesic-style wind turbine that he says is much more efficient and robust than a standard wind turbine. I loved his passion.
Then there was the Ascentiz team, who swooped in on me like my own personal cotiere, quickly strapping me into their robotic walking assist device, which starts at $1,500.
I strutted around for a few minutes, waiting for the “Aha!” moment when I felt like I no longer needed to move my own legs, the robot could do it for me, but it never came (to be fair, it’s an “assistive” device, not a replacement for walking). Instead, I felt some tightness as I awkwardly tried not to fall on my face and look even more ridiculous.
Eventually, I slid into Bodyfriend’s $20,000 robotic massage chair, which pulled on my arms and legs while aggressively massaging my back and butt.
At least I left the party feeling both tense and relaxed, and perhaps ready for the rest of CES 2026.
TechRadar will cover this year’s events extensively THESEand will bring you all the big announcements as they happen. Visit our Live news from CES 2026 page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything we’ve seen.
You can also ask us a question about the show in our Live Q&A from CES 2026 and we will do our best to answer them.
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