The CES 2025 marks the dawn of widespread civilian utilization of robots.

On January 8 (January 7, local time in the US), the opening day of the CES 2025 Consumer Electronics Show, LeiTech's reporting team traveled over 11,000 kilometers to Las Vegas, USA, to witness firsthand this annual technological spectacle.

Similar to previous years, CES 2025 gathered numerous tech giants, and once again, we were privy to the latest technological advancements showcased at the event. What stands out this year is the profound impact of large AI models on the tech product industry, transforming familiar tech products into "AI-infused" entities and nurturing new avenues.

(Image courtesy of LeiTech)

Many envision having a "Baymax" robot by their side, a character from the film "Big Hero 6" renowned for its endearing appearance and ability to offer comforting hugs and support whenever needed. This vision may gradually turn into a reality in 2025.

At the event, we observed numerous manufacturers showcasing AI robots, with a noticeable trend towards specialized positioning and usage scenarios. Exploring specific implementations and applications, such as home robots and companion robots, the robot manufacturers at CES 2025 focused on practical applications rather than mere concepts, striving towards mass production for commercial use.

After visiting multiple robot booths, LeiTech found that robots are poised to become a new generation of "household appliances" in thousands of homes, akin to AI glasses.

Robots Converge at CES: Companionship, Collaboration, and Humanoid Forms Abound

Jensen Huang delivered a keynote speech on AI, robots, autonomous driving, and other topics at CES 2025, stating that AI is evolving at an astonishing pace, from perceptual AI (understanding images, text, and sound) to generative AI (creating text, images, and sound), and is now entering the era of physical AI, capable of operating, reasoning, planning, and acting.

For the era of physical AI, NVIDIA introduced the NVIDIA Cosmos platform, comprising a series of pre-trained generative world foundation models that can generate highly realistic virtual world states based on text, image, or video prompts. These models include autoregressive and diffusion models specifically designed to generate videos and world states with physical perception.

Furthermore, NVIDIA's newly released Groot Teleop technology allows users to train robots through the Apple Vision Pro, with training results directly transferable to real robots.

Indeed, in LeiTech's view, entering the physical world is the most significant AI shift in 2025. It's not a software system reliant on specific hardware but a hardware-software integration capable of seamlessly integrating into the physical world.

Recently, a video of Unitree's quadruped robot went viral, garnering significant attention worldwide for its exceptional mobility and ability to perform high-difficulty maneuvers like aerial flips and handstands.

(Image courtesy of Unitree Technology)

The protagonist in the video also made an appearance at CES 2025, along with the full-size general-purpose robot Unitree H1. This type of robot boasts relatively generalized capabilities, capable of performing a wide range of tasks akin to humans and applicable to various scenarios.

Such robots are commonly referred to as "general-purpose robots," featuring a humanoid form and representing one of the main directions for AI robot startups. Tesla's Optimus is a notable player in this field. Chinese manufacturers like RoboSense, Lingbao CASBOT, and Zhongqing all showcased their humanoid robots at CES 2025 this year.

The companion robot sector is also thriving, with a notable feature being the "AI-ization of toys." These robots can perceive users' emotions and physical actions like touch and provide corresponding feedback. Simultaneously, the built-in large AI models function like "encyclopedias," offering educational capabilities such as answering questions and providing knowledge.

Mengyou Intelligence presented the intelligent robotic pet "Ropet," which LeiTech experienced firsthand at the booth. In essence, it simulates the warm touch and vital signs of plush animals, establishes an emotional connection with users, supports skin replacement, and allows users to increase Ropet's affection by petting it, unlocking more expressions.

(Image courtesy of LeiTech)

It can also recognize users' emotions and respond accordingly, for instance, signaling for a hug when you're bored.

In LeiTech's opinion, a more advanced example is TCL's Ai Me concept companion robot, billed as "the world's first modular artificial intelligence companion robot." Besides the robot's main body, it also features a wheeled mobile cockpit.

The robot can record videos through its camera and perceive and recognize using AI technology. The eye part serves as a display screen, and the head has a pair of interactive mechanical structures resembling large ears. Relevant staff indicated that Ai Me supports voice interaction with family members, provides problem-solving and emotional support for children, and can control smart home devices.

Judging by its diverse core functions, the AI companion robot is akin to a combination of a smart speaker, toy, smart camera, and large AI model that offers emotional value. Mass production and deployment should not be an issue.

(Image courtesy of TCL)

Speaking of companion robots, LeiTech believes that NIO's NOMI robot, after being infused with a large model, can also be considered one of them.

Outside the exhibition, many new players are entering the companion robot market for home scenarios. Gu Jiawei, the former founder of Lingling Tech, recently established a new project called "Ling Yuzhou," again choosing the field of AI robots, aiming to create companion robots for home and personal use scenarios. The core team includes technical talents from Microsoft, Google, Baidu, SenseTime, among others, some of whom have experience in various AI products such as security robots and educational robots. Entering the companion robot sector this time, they are well-prepared.

The household consumer market is vast, and for robots, the home market will also be the category with the highest potential. This is why Gu Jiawei set the initial phase of "Ling Yuzhou" robots in home scenarios. On the other hand, household demand for robots extends beyond companionship, encompassing more generalized and complex requirements for daily interaction and working capabilities. LeiTech believes that the robot that is more "human-like" will dominate the robot sector.

Additionally, Apple, which places significant emphasis on AI, did not directly bring robot products but instead introduced the ARMOR robot perception software and hardware system. The ARMOR system is equipped with 40 small ToF lidar sensors on the arms and palms, 20 on each side. These lidars are compact and cost-effective yet capable of providing robots with omnidirectional point cloud data perception.

In terms of software, Apple's ARMOR system includes an AI-driven ARMOR-Policy, developed based on the Transformer architecture, which can learn human movements and make various optimized decisions and plans with the assistance of generative models.

Many manufacturers showcased robot products and technologies at the event. LeiTech's impression is that this year, manufacturers are no longer merely discussing AI concepts but have started developing products conforming to the form of physical perception AI in tandem with practical application scenarios.

(Image courtesy of Elephant Robotics)

While most of the robots exhibited at CES 2025 are still in the capability demonstration stage and have not provided specific usage scenarios for robots to the outside world, in LeiTech's view, once the technology matures, robots can be mass-produced and introduced to the market, and scenarios will naturally emerge.

Although the AI robot sector is abuzz with humanoid robot technologies and related products, as LeiTech mentioned earlier, to better serve specific scenarios, not all robots at CES 2025 have a humanoid torso. Overall, the current batch of robots released, in addition to the humanoid form, includes companion robots resembling plush toys and collaborative robots retaining precise operating robotic arms. The more specific the scenario a robot product is designed for, the less human-like its form will be.

For instance, the myCobot series and ultraArm series showcased by Elephant Robotics are collaborative robots widely used in industrial, educational, and other commercial scenarios. Robot vacuum cleaners from brands like Dreame Robotics, which debuted at CES 2025, also come with a set of autonomously operable robotic arms.

(Image courtesy of Elephant Robotics)

Taking the popular companion robots as an example, LeiTech believes they evolved from plush toys. AI toys with a sense of life are highly popular among users, and their unique and cute designs make them more approachable, with great potential for IP development. Moreover, plush toys are often hugged by users, making the plush toy design suitable for home and personal robots.

Both Mengyou Intelligence's Ropet and TCL's Ai Me are companion robots based on cute plush toy designs, utilizing various sensors to establish a perception system and AI to analyze users' emotions, expressions, and speech, advocating for "Baymax-style companionship." The technical difficulty of this type of product is not as high as that of humanoid robots, requiring no overly precise movements or planning but only providing emotional value and answering complex questions that the public needs through multimodal means.

It's worth mentioning that similar companion robots were also present at previous CES events. Samsung unveiled the AI home companion robot Ballie at CES 2024, capable of autonomous movement within the home, learning users' behaviors and habits, and updating users on their pets or family members through video. At that time, some manufacturers were already contemplating a more suitable "intelligent member" for the home.

As LeiTech mentioned earlier, companion robots in the home are more like a combination of smart speakers, plush toys, smart cameras, and large AI models. Technologically speaking, there is a lot that can be inherited rather than starting from scratch. It can also be foreseen that such products are generally not too expensive and will be the preferred choice for more families and younger consumer groups.

Gu Jiawei, who anchors the initial phase of home scenarios, has unique insights into household robots. The team behind "Ling Yuzhou" is also deeply rooted in various AI products. It remains to be seen whether the first household robot product will be designed based on plush toys.

Humanoid robots, on the other hand, are the focus of more high-end players, with complex software and hardware engineering systems. Due to their humanoid form, they can perform a wider range of tasks, including but not limited to carrying and screwing in factories or serving tea and water at home. These robots are composed of more sensors and torque motors, and for domestic manufacturers, core components such as motors, reducers, and controllers have been independently developed.

(Image courtesy of Unitree Technology)

Suppliers in the autonomous driving field, such as RoboSense and Hesai, also provide various solutions specifically for humanoid robots, and the relevant industrial chain is being established.

This type of robot is generally more expensive. Musk once stated that the selling price of the Optimus robot is expected to be between US$20,000 and US$30,000, equivalent to the price of a car.

There have also been technical teams hoping to equip such humanoid robots with a human-like skin and expression system. A robot based on Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared at CES 2020, capable of displaying over 600 expressions, but that's a tale for another time.

The robot sector is showing a trend towards specialization, indicating that robot manufacturers are beginning to consider the practical implementation of their products and creating robots that meet demand based on usage scenarios and user pain points. Because ultimately, only through commercial use can the story of robots continue to unfold.

CES 2025: The Dawn of Widespread Civilian Use of AI Robots?

Since ChatGPT sparked the wave of generative AI, with the gradual maturation of large model capabilities, the AI industry has swiftly moved beyond the conceptual stage of competing on scale and computing power, transitioning to the stage of AI application.

Jensen Huang expressed confidence in AI, robots, and autonomous driving during his keynote speech, indicating that AI is increasingly being implemented in applications and is no longer just a concept like the metaverse once was. Over the past year, a plethora of AI field tech gurus have ventured out to start their own businesses, targeting the robot sector, leading to a wave of exciting AI hardware startups. Automakers with manufacturing capabilities and AI technology reserves, such as Lixiang, BYD, GAC, and XPeng, have also successively announced plans and products for various humanoid robots.

Are AI and robots still mere pie-in-the-sky concepts? LeiTech believes it's not entirely the case because, judging from the array of exhibits at CES 2025, most products related to AI and robots have reached a surprisingly high level of usability. These manufacturers are almost at the starting line for mass production and deployment, awaiting the day when AI robots truly explode onto the scene.

(Image sourced from Lei Technology)

The advent of AI in the physical world has elevated interaction to unprecedented heights. Terms like "AI companions," "AI partners," and even "silicon-based family members," as coined by Li Xiang, illustrate that artificial intelligence now has a more tangible presence in our lives. This is no longer a distant dream but a burgeoning reality. Nonetheless, there remains a chasm between prototype demonstrations and mass production. Market acceptance and consumer demand have yet to reach their full potential, hindering AI robots from fully embarking on their intended path.

Yet, Lei remains convinced that this trend is unstoppable, serving as a catalyst for AI hardware manufacturers. The tipping point, where quantitative growth gives rise to qualitative transformation, could herald the next seismic shift in the AI era.

Source: Lei Technology