CES 2016: Intelligent shoes and caring robots at tech spectacular

A fridge that tells you when your food is out of date, “caring” robots and self-tightening shoes are among the gadgets at the world’s biggest tech show.

The annual three-day Consumer Electronics Show opens in Las Vegas tomorrow, with more than 3,600 exhibitors unveiling the latest technology.

Among the artificial intelligence on show will be the latest version of Paro, a robot baby seal that coos, purrs and moves in response to touch. It has been helping war veterans who have dementia or loss of cognitive function from stroke or traumatic brain injury. Pat-ients in Japan and the US have used it.

Also on show will be Asimo, Honda’s 4ft 3in mobile assistant, and Buddy, a vibrating “social robot” from France that recognises family members and calls police in an emergency.

Tech industry analyst Brian Blau said: “A lot more of your devices are going to run with less direction from you, but a greater sense of how to help you.” Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg says his new challenge is to build an AI to help “run my home and help with my work”.

Other products set to go on show include a Samsung fridge which has a camera inside and tells you when food is about to go off. Digitsole’s £305 self-warming Smartshoe automatically tightens to the wearer’s foot — recalling Marty McFly’s self-lacing trainers in Back To The Future II. It can count footsteps and has a built-in torch.

LG will show off its 55in OLED television screen, which is less than 1mm thick and can be rolled up like a newspaper. Volkswagen is expected to unveil a new electric vehicle as it attempts a comeback following its emission test rigging scandal. Transport gadgets include the WalkCar, a laptop-sized aluminium pad mounted on four tiny wheels that propels a rider at 6mph.

However, hoverboards have joined Segways and uniwheels on the banned list for visitors due to safety fears.

Mark Blunden flew as a guest of Norwegian, which flies the 787 Dreamliner three times weekly from Gatwick to LA. For more details visit norwegian.com