CES 2021: A Virtual Conference
VR, Space Innovation, 5G, Adapting to Changes and More…
In 2021 CES (Consumer Electronics Show) was an online-only event. Like other years, there were announcements and speakers discussing technology trends and topics like: virtual reality, 5G, space innovation, processing power and adapting to the currently complicated climate.
CES is owned and produced by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)® and normally takes place in Las Vegas, Nevada. CES 2020 had a total attendance of 171,268 (1). It took place on January 7–10 and was one of the few large conventions that happened before a wave of cancellations last year (which included Austin’s own SXSW). With this year’s virtual event, they might have increased their attendance by removing the limitation of geography. They have not yet released their attendance for 2021.
The online convention presented a challenge. A big part of CES is the presentation of new technology in a live context. Companies make announcements and show off their wares. The convention presents the chance for hands-on experiences with the latest in ultra high def screens and other dazzling devices. That is tricky to replicate online.
Another major element of the convention is networking. People go there to form connections and negotiate business and create relationships in real time. An online event creates a completely different experience where venues of connection are limited.
Online CES attempted to replicate some of the convention experiences with live streams. At the virtual venue you can examine the schedule and the content. There were a total of 217 listed sessions (including “replay” showings of some sessions). If you missed a live stream, many were available immediately afterwards for viewing.
Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality was one of the popular topics at CES. Steve Koenig, VP of research at CTA, discussed this at the “CTA’s Tech Trends Live Q&A” session. He talked about a future found in “degrees of immersion.” At the moment, Virtual Reality is viewed as the experience of stepping into a totally virtual world. Augmented reality is the idea of a virtual experience overlaid onto the real world, but not replacing it. Koenig mentioned that the future of VR and AR might lie in more discrete wearables that are worn more constantly. These wearables could vary in presentation and provide a shifting level of immersion based on customer need.
He emphasized that this might be useful for “hands free” work. For example, a doctor could view patient records without touching anything. Applications like this could be particularly useful for any sort of task requiring social distance. Koenig also seemed interested in the Mercedes MBUX Hyperscreen, which features augmented reality overlays. The company emphasizes the “intuitive” nature of their display screen, which speaks to AR as a design choice that could help with ease of use and human-machine interaction. This choice might allow the customer to interact with a screen using more engaging spatial elements. These trends might be particularly relevant for the development of VR hardware.
5G
One big concept at CES is “5G.” Koenig suggested it will reach “dense urban areas first” and continue to grow in significance in the near and distance future. He sees that “5 g is just gonna really overlay the entire global economy.” 5G might be a necessity to create reliability and solve latency issues for products using IoT, Internet of Things.
Bosch, a leading global supplier of technology and services, mentioned their use of IoT. They use connected devices in order to increase efficiency in a manufacturing context. Their IoT- connected devices collect data and use AI to study that data and “help predict energy consumption, avoid peak loads, and correct deviations in typical patterns of consumption.”
Space Technology
A panel called “Research and Technology Development in Space” also addressed the use of artificial intelligence, this time in space. Jana Stoudemire, of Space Tango, talked about how her company is interested in leveraging the unique properties of microgravity for manufacturing. Their research requires work. Astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor, in that same session, explains that they spend “a good chunk of our day doing preventative maintenance,” as well as hours of exercise to keep their muscles from atrophying.
Stoudemire explains that her company uses automation of tasks through artificial intelligence to lighten the burden on the astronauts and increase the amount of research being done. This is an example of the popular concept that automation could be viewed as an augmentation rather than pure replacement of human labor.
Processing Power
Part of what makes AI possible, is processing power. So companies, like AMD, as presented by chief executive officer Dr. Lisa Su, were showcasing their gains in processing power. They compared their new EPYC Milan CPU with the Intel Xeon Gold 6258R CPU in a “compute intensive weather forecast of the United States.” AMD concluded that their Milan “completed the forecast 68 percent faster than the competition.”
Francois Chardavoine, VP of Technology at Lucasfilm talked about the decision to use exclusively AMD at the “render farm,” (a system of high performance computers used to generate graphics) in their new facility in Australia. He explained that “we just need as much firepower as possible,” and that “the amount of threads and cores that you have available is unprecedented.” According to Chardavoine, new software they use is more demanding and better able to use all available firepower. The firepower lets the artists work more intuitively because they can “make changes and immediately see the results.”
Adaptation
A final big theme that was discussed was the idea of adaptation. In environment where they can’t show off flashy tech as easily, some companies may have been forced to speak in a more “big picture” context. Bosch chose to emphasize a PCR test they invented and how they had reduced the “time-to-result” period and increased the number of tests that could be done. They also talked about how the pandemic sparked them to focus on creating more eco-friendly solutions to prevent other future climate-related disasters.
Astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor talked about the adaptations that had to be made protect astronauts from coronavirus and to ensure that they are “keeping the astronauts safe.” She has a Doctorate of Medicine from The University of Texas and explained that, as a physician, “we still do not understand the long term implications of this virus.” According to her “there are a lot of folks at NASA that put in a lot of hours,” to ensure that appropriate steps were taken.
Dr. Lisa Su, of AMD explained that “the pandemic has elevated technology to become an essential part of how we live, work, play and communicate.” As an example she mentioned that “zoom users are approaching three and a half trillion minutes of meetings per year, Cisco Webex meeting participants recently hit 600 million per month, and Microsoft Teams is now supporting 115 million daily users.” All of this has been great news for the PC market and might lead to increased growth as more people are dependent on a home computer than ever before.
Experience and Expo
The actual experience of the convention was mostly just watching videos. Some had a chat section that allowed people to interact. This chat section frequently became a space for people to advertise services or draw attention to their booths. Some of the sessions had chat disabled. The live streams seemed to mostly include captions, and a few of the larger ones offered ASL interpretation. The videos are available to stream online until February 15th.
The Expo itself, which would normally take place in a large hall with flashy booths, demos and experiential marketing, now consists of an “Exhibitor Directory” section on the virtual venue webpage. There, you could search for a company in an alphabetical listing, or search by category. The exhibitors pages seemed mostly minimalist. There was a chat function where you could speak with the booth occupants if they were available .They might include a video, some presentations, or links to an external page. One of these pages was the “P&G LIFELAB,” a virtual experience that attempted to replicate the “expo booth” experience.
This convention provided a safe alternative to the prohibitive concept of an in-person gathering at this point. The videos and presentations brought up some thought-provoking ideas and useful information about what technologies might be relevant in the coming year.
REFERENCES:
1.
https://cdn.ces.tech/ces/media/pdfs/2020-ces-attendance-audit-summary.pdf
