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The weirdest new gadgets at CES 2020

Here are the strangest and most surprising gadgets that stand out on the crowded CES show floor this week.

Rae Hodge
Rae Hodge was a senior editor at CNET. She led CNET's coverage of privacy and cybersecurity tools from July 2019 to January 2023. As a data-driven investigative journalist on the software and services team, she reviewed VPNs, password managers, antivirus software, anti-surveillance methods and ethics in tech. Prior to joining CNET in 2019, Rae spent nearly a decade covering politics and protests for the AP, NPR, the BBC and other local and international outlets.
Rae Hodge
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1 of 16 Katie Collins/CNET

Charmin's bear-faced toilet roll robot

At CES in Las Vegas on Sunday, Charmin unveiled the Rollbot, a self-balancing robot that connects to your phone and will deliver a fresh toilet roll directly to your seat if you happen to find yourself on the pan and caught in a bind. 

Read more: Charmin's pooptime robot pal will bring a new toilet paper roll when you need it most

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2 of 16 Abrar Al-Heeti/CNET

Impossible Pork

The Silicon Valley-based startup that launched the Impossible Burger in 2016 is tackling another meat. At CES 2020 in Las Vegas on Monday, the company debuted Impossible Pork, a plant-based substitute designed to mimic ground meat from pigs. It'll launch Impossible Sausage later this month with a new Burger King partnership, this time in an Impossible Croissan'wich.

Read more: Impossible Foods' pig-free pork is here, and it's scary-similar to the real thing

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3 of 16

Temporary tattoo machine

Check out this fun temporary tattoo printer from startup Prinker. The $269 device, called the Prinker S, is a small black handheld gadget that can hold black ($99) or color ($149) cosmetic-grade ink cartridges (sold separately). The ink is expensive, but Prinker claims each cartridge is good for 1,000 tattoos. 

Read morePass this temporary tattoo machine over your arm for instant ink

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4 of 16 Samsung

The SelfieType invisible keyboard

In case typing on the humongous Galaxy Note 10 Plus screen doesn't offer you quite enough finger space, Samsung has a plan for an invisible keyboard that tracks your fingers using the front-facing selfie camera on your phone or tablet. The keyboard, cunningly named SelfieType, uses AI to "see" your fingers as you tap them on the desk in front of your propped-up phone.

Read more: Samsung's magic invisible keyboard probably won't be on the Galaxy S11

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5 of 16 Segway

The Segway S-Pod

Segway presented what it calls the S-Pod. It definitely looks like someone carved out an egg and slapped some wheels on it, but there's much more to it than that.

In Segway speak, the S-Pod is a "first-class smart transporting pod" that it thinks airports, theme parks and other venues will take a liking to. Imagine mall security rolling up in a fleet of these bad boys. No, think of the Paul Blart: Mall Cop trilogy that could be.

Read more: Segway S-Pod is a maneuverable egg you can sit in

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6 of 16 Kohler

Kohler Moxie Shower Head CES 2020

If you love to sing in the shower, you have plenty of options when it comes to waterproof Bluetooth speakers. The most seamless way to integrate sound into your shower is with a built-in speaker, something Kohler has offered before in its Moxie line of shower heads with wireless speakers. Kohler is revamping this line in 2020 with the addition of a new showerhead with built-in audio from Harman Kardon. 

Read moreLove to sing in the shower? Kohler has the showerhead for you

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7 of 16 Angela Lang/CNET

The Y-Brush returns

Last year, the Y-Brush promised nothing short of a potential dental miracle. The strange looking toothbrush was designed to clean all of your teeth in just 10 seconds. Now a year later at CES, the 10-second toothbrush is back in its final form, and this time you can actually buy one. And that's good news because in the landscape of "tech toothbrushes" the Y-Brush offers something that Oral-B and Colgate don't: efficiency.

Read moreThe Y-Brush returns: You can finally buy the 10-second toothbrush now

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8 of 16 Juan Garzon / CNEt

Razr's Eracing Simulator

The Razer Eracing Simulator concept is a high-end racing seat and display that it might at some point build on a case-by-case basis for esports racing leagues it partners with. It combines a hydraulic racing seat, a projection screen and a high-end gaming wheel and pedals into a single gigantic product. 

Read more: The Razer Eracing Simulator probably costs more than your car

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9 of 16 MSI

MSI's robot warrior gaming helmet

And now for something completely different in a gaming desktop.

MSI is showing off its robot-head concept gaming desktop, the MEG Aegis Ti5, which takes the aesthetic of its Aegis compact desktops a little further out. It's a lot less scary looking, though. 

Read more: MSI intros 1,000-nit mini LED HDR on 17-inch laptop, bizarro concept gaming desktop

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10 of 16 Tyler Lizenby/CNET

Narwal mop and vacuum robot

Once it's done cleaning up a mess, the Narwal T10 vacuum-cleaner robot can clean clean itself. It even has a tank of clean water inside so it can mop your floor, too. After it finishes the job, it moves the dirty water to a second tank and uses clean water from its first tank to take a quick bath. Best of all? It's controlled with an app that lets you create a layout of your home.

Read more: This mop and vacuum robot cleans itself so you don't have to

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11 of 16 Hyundai, Uber

SA-1 urban air taxi from Hyundai and Uber Elevate

Hyundai Motor Group has partnered with Uber to build vehicles specifically for the ride-hailing service, but not in the way any of us expected. Meet the Hyundai Urban Air Mobility concept, an air taxi concept designed for Uber Elevate's upcoming urban air travel service and part of a trio of future city transport concepts debuted at CES 2020 this week. 

Read more: Hyundai and Uber Elevate debut urban air taxi concept S-A1

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12 of 16 Angela Lang/CNET

Wello Family

Got an extra $9,000 and the urge to own a bike that's also a car? The Wello Family is your solar-powered middle-ground solution. At 7.4 feet in length and 2.7 feet in width, the French-made vehicle is designed for an adult rider with one adult passenger or two kids in the back.

Read more: Wello Family offers a bike-car mashup for nearly $9,000

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13 of 16 Delta Airlines

Delta's exoskeleton

OK, now here's something cool -- a wearable exoskeleton from Delta, the Guardian XO, designed to help ramp agents lift heavy loads. The battery-powered wearable robot can help you safely lift up to 200 pounds.

Read more: Delta Air Lines sees a future in robotics

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14 of 16 URGOTech

URGONight brain-training headband

For $500 you can own a brain-training headband during the day that will monitor your brain and provide activities on your phone  to help you wind down at night. During clinical trials, the company claims the gadget's neurofeedback sent people to dreamland 40% faster, and cut nighttime interruptions in half. 

Read moreSleep better at night by using this headband to train your brain during the day

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15 of 16 CNET

Virtual pinball

A tragic report from CNET's Mark Serrels describes the virtual pinball machines discovered at CES 2020: "These are essentially screens embedded in a box shaped like a pinball machine. They do a great job of removing everything interesting about pinball machines: the tactile feeling of bouncing weighty metal balls off metal components. They are an empty husk. Avoid."

Read more: The weirdest video game things I saw at CES 2020

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16 of 16 CNET

Neon, the 'artificial human'

The head of Samsung's Neon AI project, Star Labs' Pranav Mistry, calls the eerily realistic CGI avatar the world's first "artificial human." Neon said its goal is have the realistic digital humans act as teachers, health care advisers and assistants, for example, and they will continually learn and adapt to become unique companions. Welcome to Blade Runner. 

Read more: All the cool new gadgets at CES 2020

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