Looking Back at CES Asia

May 24, 2016

Tom Coughlin, Chair of the IEEE Public Visibility Committee and IEEE Senior Member, attended CES Asia May 11th-May 13th in China to scope out global trends in engineering and technology.

IEEE asked Coughlin to reflect on his conference experiences, offering insight into new and emerging technology and trends.

IEEE Transmitter: What were the biggest trends you saw at CES Asia?

TC: Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Drones, IoT, next generation cars (including autonomous driving functions) and some robotics.

IEEE Transmitter: What tech featured at CES will be the “next big thing”?

TC: All of the biggest trending ideas and products, like VR, AR, IoT and autonomous cars are still the next big things. I suspect drones, being used as drones, have peaked in their popularity.

IEEE Transmitter: What IoT technology was on display?

TC: Many examples of IoT were presented such as intelligent sensors and control (like thermostats). IoT technology is being built into consumer products.

IEEE Transmitter: How was CES Asia different from CES in the US?

TC: CES Asia was actually somewhat smaller, although perhaps double the size from its prior year. There was a lot more international representation at January CES than at CES Asia. In fact, there were a lot more Asian companies at January CES than CES Asia.

IEEE Transmitter: What was the most surprising tech at CES?

TC: I found some very small drones–less than an inch across–with a price tag of only $40. This was very cool. There were a lot more component displays here than in January CES, which makes sense since many of these are made in China.

IEEE Transmitter: What was the new technology you saw around VR?

TC: Although there was one VR glasses company that dominated in the demos, it was rather bulky. There were some other examples of smaller and lighter glasses. I did have a chance to use a VR system that included the ability to walk in the artificial environment, which was innovative.