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CES 2021: 'Wearable tech that’s like using the Force’

Some of the devices featuring at the 2021 CES technology expo have been designed to help users avoid touching items like computers, phones and touchscreens.

BBC Click’s Omar Mehtab puts some of them to the test.

See more at Click's website and @BBCClick

16 January 2021

Wearable technology

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James Clayton and a demonstrator looking gat the AI mirror

Do we need an AI mirror?

Two warehouse workers wear a yellow exoskeleton to help them carry a blue wooden palette.

Exoskeletons help take the strain of heavy lifting

Man drinking beer

AI suggests beer based on taster facial expressions

Nick Kwek drives a car he has hired via car-sharing app Turo

Car-sharing app offers private vehicles for hire

Lara Lewington wears black boxing gloves and punches a punchbag with a orange spot on it.

Punchbags become smart with a sensor-filled cover

Rebecca Rosenberg, CEO and founder of ReBokeh looks at her yellow iPhone. She is wearing a watch with a yellow strap.

I have low vision, so I built an app to help others

BBC Technology editor Zoe Kleinman wears a HTC Vive XR Elite headset and holds a controller

Meta's Quest Pro and HTC's Vive XR Elite tried out

A drone carrying a tube buoy - a buoyancy aid

Drone trial to help sea swimmers in trouble

Three people sitting on a sofa watching television

Watch parties get a privacy focus with BBC trial

BBC Foreign correspondent Anna Holligan smells perfume. She is wearing gold earrings and a gold necklace which says Anna.

Can AI design your perfect bespoke perfume?

Chilli plants being grown in a vertical farm

'We talk to plants, they tell us if they are happy'

Shiona McCallum looks at a record in her hands

Can we make vinyl greener by removing the PVC?

Lara Lewington sits in a deckchair. She is wearing sunglasses, holding a smart skipping rope and wearing a Sensate device.

Tech turns spectacles into smart audio glasses

Omar Mehtab, wearing a pink football shirt and Paul Carter, wearing a red football shirt, sit between two orange robots.

How will humans fare against robo-footballers?

A graphic of the Earth showing debris surrounding it

How do we solve the problem of space debris?

Hans-Erik, a resident of Odense in Denmark, washes dishes in a sink.

How streaming videos gives a Danish city hot water

Zoe Kleinman with phone

Hands-on with the Nothing 1 phone

Neill Blomkamp, film director and chief visionary office of Gunzilla Games. He wears a black jacket and brown T-shirt.

Blomkamp: Why I am making video game Off The Grid

A 3D projection of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensk. He is wearing a green Star Wars T-shirt and green trousers

Zelensky's 3D projection asks tech sector for help

A brown and white dog who is wearing a blue and white gingham bandana looks at a TV screen (not pictured)

Dogs given their own treat-dispensing game console

The BBC's Lily Jamali is on the left of a split screen with a driverless Tesla taxi on the right

Musk promises self-driving Tesla taxis, but are they safe?

BBC Tech Correspondent Lily Jamali analyses the 'robocabs' and if their technology is up to par.

AI Clone of BBC Cyber Correspondent Joe Tidy

Watch: Can BBC reporter's AI clone fool his colleagues?

Cyber Correspondent Joe Tidy has an AI clone of himself built to see how sophisticated they can be.

Rows of cars line a car park at night with red lights on and some in a queue

Driverless cars wake residents with nighttime honking

The robotaxis were stationed in a San Francisco parking lot when a feature to avoid crashes set off the noise.

Joe Tidy holding a phone with the picture of a blonde woman

‘Pig butchering’ scammers target BBC reporter

Joe Tidy played along for over two months to learn more about how the scams work.

Samira Hussain

'My boarding pass and luggage tags were filled in manually'

The BBC's Samira Hussain is in Delhi, trying to catch a flight to go on holiday with her family.

10 students took part in the project

College students on life without a smartphone

Ten teenagers swap their smartphones for brick phones as part of a week-long digital detox.

Mobile phone and social media apps

Ros Atkins on... How different countries protect children online

BBC Analysis editor Ros Atkins looks at what what is being done to prevent minors seeing harmful content.

Noland Arbaugh beside Neuralink's Bliss Chapman

Neuralink patient seen playing chess using brain implant

In a livestream on X, the patient explained that he was using a device in his brain to move the cursor.

Nigella Lawson

The celebrities 'deepfaked' for US influencer's ads

Piers Morgan and Oprah have criticised the use of AI deepfake ads used to promote a "manifestation" guide.

Paul Carter tries out the bionic arm

Paul Carter tries out Atom Limbs bionic arm

BBC Click reporter Paul Carter tries out the Atom Limbs prosthetic with 'full range of human motion'.

Jason trying out the prosthetic

Jason shows the BBC how the Atom Limbs prosthetic works

Jason lost his arm in an accident in 2012, and he's been working with Atom Limbs to test their prosthetic.

The word Dementia spelt on wooden blocks

Using virtual reality to diagnose Alzheimer's

Researchers at University College London are investigating how the tech can help with early diagnoses.

Two Grand Theft Auto VI characters holding guns

Watch: Breaking down the GTA VI trailer...in 79 seconds

Here's what our main takeaways are from the long-awaited trailer for the gaming blockbuster.

Tesla's creative director Franz von Holzhausen

Watch: Musk attempts Cybertruck window stunt again

The pickup truck - Tesla’s latest offering - had its windows smashed during a demonstration in 2019.

Rishi Sunak and Elon Musk

‘Like having a very smart friend’: Musk on impact of AI

Billionaire Elon Musk told the British prime minister that he thinks AI could take over service sector jobs and play a role in education.

Elon Musk

'There will come a point when no job is needed,' says Musk

Billionaire Elon Musk tells the British prime minister that AI will be smarter than the smartest human.

Rishi Sunak

Sunak says Musk 'valuable' to AI conversation

The prime minister says Elon Musk's background in AI companies means he is worth speaking to.

King Charles facing the camera

AI presents profound challenges, says King Charles

The King called for unity in addressing challenges ahead of a major UK summit on AI safety.

Elon Musk in the audience the AI Summit

Musk says it is too early to start regulating AI

The tech entrepreneur says "you've got to start with insight before you do oversight".

Amazon robot

Amazon trials humanoid robots in warehouses

The US tech giant is looking at ways it can automate more of its operations.