Friday, May 8, 2015

How ant colonies, butterfly swarms and lizard tongues are teaching industry a lesson

Researchers say robots in the future must show not only the capacity to take orders
At the core of the research is swarm technology; the study of how large groups
From the organizational strength of the ant colony, to the unseen communication in a swarm of butterflies, nature has always beaten man to it.
But now researchers at Festo, a German industrial control and automation company, are taking their cue from the natural world to gain valuable insights that could one day transform industry.
Its three latest projects -- BionicANTs, eMotionButterflies and its tongue-like FlexShapeGripper -- all mimic nature to find solutions to the problems thrown up by the coordination and logistics necessary to carry out mechanical robotic tasks.
"With all of our products we want to show how innovative technical ideas can facilitate the future of work and how principles from nature can change and improve industries," a Festo spokesman told CNN.
The aim of its butterfly project, for instance, shows how communication in flight could one day work for complex networks in the workspace.
"We wanted to show how several objects could be coordinated without colliding in a three- dimensional space thanks to a multifaceted network," he said.
"Although we don't expect our butterflies to be flying through factories any time soon, their integrated network systems may well be used as solutions for industrial logistics applications or could lead to a guidance and monitoring system in future factories."

Swarm tech takeover

Its prototype artificial BionicANTs, meanwhile, takes its cue from the deeply hierarchical and highly organized world of the ant colony."
Our ants are able to communicate with a network on their own. Working together they can achieve things they could not do by themselves," he said.
"This cooperative behavior provides interesting approaches for the factory of tomorrow."With greater flexibility and individuality demanded of automation in the future, the ants, he said, show how a networked group can communicate with each other while at the same time take orders at a higher control level.
"Using these types of networks will allow industries to better cater to the individual requests of customers."
At the core of the research is swarm technology; the study of how large groups such as bees, ants and butterflies can act in concert as a group but at the same time maintain enough individual volition to avoid collision.
"Swarm technology has improved in a huge way in recent years," said.
"Our butterflies get their instructions from a master computer in much the same way as an air traffic controller operates at an airport, coordinating all the different flying maneuvers each butterfly performs.
"This automated controller checks the position of all the butterflies and makes sure there will be no collision. A human pilot is not required."
The ants, on the hand, communicate with each other and come to an agreement about what to do next.
"Even though the ants are part of an overall networked system, every ant is an individual unit which can react independently to a situation," he said. "Swarm technology has a huge significance for the future of mechanization and is improving very fast."

Learning from lizards

The chameleon-tongue robot -- a liquid-filled rubber gripping device which mimics the grasping abilities of the predatory lizard -- could be used to handle small objects, replacing the finesse of human motor abilities in the workplace.
"The tongue has the ability to grab differently-shaped objects and it can also grab more than one thing at once," he said. "It could be used, for instance, in lightening the load of small but time-consuming jobs on the factory floor or even to clean up a room by taking things back to their usual places."
He said the importance of these prototypes shows the direction of industrial automation -- that robots must not only take their orders from a central computer but show the capacity for individual action as well.
"The components have to be able to manage their own actions while knowing what the other members of their network are doing," he said.
"Bionic products are leading to new ideas about how industrial processes could work. At the moment the development is furious and the changes are fundamental.
"Who knows what the status quo will be in 10,15 or 20 years time."

Thursday, May 7, 2015

This robotic chimp could one day roam the moon


(CNN)Could the next moon mission involve a small step for an ape, but a giant leap for all robots?
With renewed interest in moon exploration -- in particular the remote possibility that deposits of helium-3, believed to be in greater concentration on the moon, could one day power nuclear fusion power plants on Earth -- robots might be the ideal solution, especially to keep the costs down.
And a design from the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (also known as DFKI) in Bremen, Germany, has landed on the chimpanzee as its model for unmanned lunar missions.

Quadruped stability

DFKI hopes its design -- called the iStruct Demonstrator and nicknamed "Charlie"- will capitalize on the inherent stability of the ape's quadrupedal stance without losing the chimp's versatility in climbing, grasping and moving over all types of terrain.
"We chose the ape because it allows us to study several locomotion modes," DFKI researcher Daniel Kuhn told CNN.
"For example, they have quite good quadrupedal walking abilities but they can also perform stand- up motion and walk on two legs -- their ability to do this is greater than other animals. This change in posture and walking form interested us," he said.
Four-legged locomotion, Kuhn explained, might be stable -- but for speed and agility on flat ground, bipedal walking has the edge.

The chimp's greatest asset is that it can choose which form of movement best fits the situation.
"They can choose: if the environment won't let you move in a stable fashion on two legs they can choose four. When the environment improves, two legs allows you to get a better view over the field."
Founded by the German space agency DLR, the project has also built Lunar craters in a lab to test the prototype.
"In general, we are very happy with the results," he said. "The robot can walk up and down slopes of up to 20 degrees.
"Currently, we are studying how to transfer from the four-legged to the two-legged motion pattern, which is very interesting. This system gives us hints as to how much deviation there is between the four-legged and the two-legged walking and how humans evolved to walk on two legs."

Lower body torque

Previously, most multi-legged robots have been equipped with single-point contact feet for the sake of simplicity in design and control.
However the robotic chimpanzee focuses on a sophisticated lomwer limb system that combines the torque and twist of the chimpanzee's lower body.
And, like a real chimp, the robot's feet and hands have multiple sensors and multiple points of contact.
The sensors include a pressure sensor array of 43 individual force sensing resistor (FSR) sensors. It also has six additional FSR-sensors used for collision detection.
The robot is also equipped with a distance sensor in the heel to anticipate the heel strike and two temperature sensors to compensate for the difference in temperature produced by its own electronics.

Robot with backbone

Its biggest advantage, however, comes from the fact that like a real chimpanzees, it has a spine.
"We have an actuated spine -- one of the first ever built -- and for us it was very interesting how the spine influences the motion of the legs," Kuhn said. "We need much less activation for the knee -- the knee can be much lower if we use the spine and it needs less force to move the robot.
"It's strong enough to walk around and carry its own weight -- and it can carry 20 to 25 kg of additional weight."
Because of the embedded electronics in the spine, the overall structure can be used as a 6-axis force-torque sensor, allowing it a range of movement that replicates human and animal mobility.

Daunting specs

For those designing lunar robots, the list of specifications can be daunting.
Not only must a robot be able to see, drill, grind, collect and even sieve, it needs to get around a hostile environment in extreme temperatures and in a vacuum.
Robots also must offer the greatest strength and versatility for the least payload and have the ability to fix problems if something goes wrong.
With the moon 380,000 kilometers away, there's little margin for error and Kuhn says it may take three or four generations before the lunar chimp is completely space proof.
"You have to use different technologies - you can't use the same electronics that you use on Earth; they have to be space qualified and space proof.
"What we are doing is working on integrating more redundancy into the robot. If something goes wrong then we can rely on different actuators."

Space and other animals

The chimpanzee is not the only animal that is being studied by DFKI as a potential model for a lunar robot. Also on the drawing board are plans for a lunar mantis and a lunar scorpion.
Also at the prototype stage, the advantage of this type of locomotion, Kuhn says, has great potential.
"What you have is an animal that can stand on four legs, giving it stability, but can use its front two legs to manipulate objects," he said.






Wednesday, May 6, 2015

These tiny robots have superhuman strength


Engineers David Christensen, left, and Elliot Hawkes, right, with their tiny robots.

Imagine dragging a blue whale around on land without batting an eye. That's similar to the strength of tiny robots being developed by engineers at Stanford University.

These micro-robots, which are about the size of a Matchbox car, can pull 2,000 times their weight. They come in two sizes, and the smaller one can even haul items up glass walls.

"These are the first micro-robots that are able to live in -- and manipulate -- a human-sized world," said David Christensen, who developed the robots with fellow Ph.D student Elliot Hawkes.
So far, the robots have just been used in the lab to haul around weights, drag a full coffee cup across the table and move objects up a wall, but their strength does have some applications for the real world.

The engineers said the robots could be equipped with CO2 sensors and then sent into a burning building to find survivors. Or, in less dire circumstances, they could be used to put objects in out-of-reach spots -- like a wireless router in the rafters of a factory.
Christensen said the robots should be thought of as a little army that can be deployed, and since they're cheap to make -- each one only costs about $20 -- it's not a big deal if one goes missing.
"You can make hundreds of them and you don't care so much about breaking one or losing one because they become disposable," said Hawkes. He and Christensen can build a new robot in just a day or two in the lab. They use 3D printers to make the parts, which has sped up the process.

This robot, officially called the Ground MicroTug, weighs 12 grams but can pull 2,000 times that amount.
When designing the robots' movement, the engineers were inspired by geckos and ants, whose feet adapt when they climb or carry a load.
To haul an object, the robot first drives forward on its two front wheels, and then plants itself on a hard surface and pulls on a string attached to the object. It continuously repeats the process to move things forward, and can keep going as long as there isn't anything in its way. The robots' "feet" have spikes that stick to the ground, much like a gecko.
The robots are still a work in progress and have only been in development for a few months. They will be on display next month at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Seattle, Wash.
"What we're trying to prove is that we can do amazing things like ants can do," Christensen said.
It's hoped that the tiny robots will one day work just like ant colonies, which work together as a team to get things done. Ants are especially impressive when it comes to weightlifting -- a regular ant can lift up to 5,000 times its own body weight.
"If I have an ant crawl on my hand, you realize how awesome they are," Hawkes said. "They are beautiful little things."

As Japan's population ages, robots seen as workforce solution

Tokyo (CNN)A crowd gathers near the entrance of Tokyo's upscale Mitsukoshi Department Store, which traces its roots to a kimono shop in the late 17th century.
Fitting with the store's history, the new greeter wears a traditional Japanese kimono while delivering information to the growing crowd, whose expressions vary from amusement to bewilderment.
It's hard to imagine the store's founders in the late 1600's could have imagined this kind of employee.
That's because the greeter is not a human -- it's a robot.
Aiko Chihira is an android manufactured by Toshiba, designed to look and move like a real person. It was put on temporary display at the department store.
Toshiba says Chihira has 43 motors allowing it to move, speak in sign language and even sing.
The regular greeter, Ayako Seiryu, says she's not worried about a robot replacing her -- even one made to resemble a real 32-year-old woman.
"Communication is important," she says. "My strength is I can actually talk to people."
Chihira can't have a conversation yet, acknowledges Hitoshi Tokuda, Toshiba spokesperson. But he says the technology is evolving quickly and someday, robots like Chihira could replace humans for certain jobs.

Robots in the workforce?

A growing number of Japanese businesses are testing out robots as a possible solution to the country's shrinking workforce.
They're appearing in stores, banks and soon even hotels.
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ is trying out "Nao," a customer service robot that answers basic questions and is designed to speak 19 languages. The robotic polygot could prove useful serving foreign customers during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
By then, the bank hopes to have even more robots on staff.
"Pepper" is a humanoid robot that "chats" with customers. A humanoid has human-like characteristics such as arms, legs and a head -- but is designed to look like a robot. Pepper first began appearing in Tokyo stores last year.
Manufacturer Softbank hopes it'll eventually be a "family robot," like a sleeker version of Rosie on "The Jetsons."

A hotel scheduled to open at Huis Ten Bosch theme park in Nagasaki this summer plans to have 10 robot staff members and aims to increase that to more than 90% of hotel services operated by robots.
Today's novelty could be tomorrow's necessity. Japan has an aging population that has prompted serious talks about how to incorporate robots into the nation's shrinking workforce.
One group that seems willing to embrace robots are Japan's senior citizens.
A survey by nursing home operator Orix Living found more seniors would feel comfortable being cared for by a robot than a foreign nurse.
In a nation with a dwindling population, waning workforce, and deep resistance to immigration, it seems robots will only play a larger role in Japan's future.

Sunday, May 3, 2015

CES 2015: 25 new products and technologies worth talking about

From battery-swapping scooters and people-sensing drones to action cams, virtual reality headsets and smart beds for kids
In many ways, this year’s CES technology show in Las Vegas is business as usual. Devices are getting thinner, a new acronym is spawned every minute, and every company is revolutionising something in their press releases.
What are the products whose implications will last longer than the in-show hype, though? Below, we’ve rounded up 25 of the new products and technologies from CES 2015 that are worth talking about. Which, note, isn’t the same thing as calling them the “best” products or the ones most likely to be commercially successful.
Take a read, then have your say in the comments section on some of the issues raised by these products.

Gogoro Smartscooter

Gogoro’s Smartscooter is an electric scooter with a range of nearly 100 miles, but you don’t recharge its battery: you swap it. The company will operate a series of hubs where batteries can be reserved ahead of time, then swapped for the one that’s running out. There’s no news on its launch date or likely price, including the cost of the ongoing subscription for the batteries.
Talking point: better or worse than the Tesla model of charging points?

Voxel8 3D printer

There are plenty of 3D printer companies showing off their new devices at CES, but the Voxel8 is the most intriguing of the lot. Its focus is on printing electronic circuits rather than just plastic objects, using conductive ink that dries quickly, and can be embedded in other objects. In the future, it could be used from devices including hearing aids, wearable gadgets and even quadcopter drones.
Talking point: What does it mean for tech if we can print our own circuits?

Nvidia Tegra X1

Nvidia’s latest chip isn’t a chip – at least not according to the company, which is pitching it as a “superchip” thanks to its 256 processor cores and eight CPU cores. Introduced at CES amid some grand claims – “more power than a supercomputer the size of a suburban family home from 15 years ago” – it’ll be making its way into products in due course – including cars, via Nvidia’s Drive CX cockpit computer, which sports two of ‘em.
Talking point: is “mobile computing” a separate category any more, processor-wise?

Sharp Aquos Beyond 4K Ultra HDTV

If you’ve been playing oneupmanship with friends on the quality of your television, Sharp just unlocked a new level: 8K. Well, not strictly 8K – hence the “beyond 4K” in the title of its new TV, which uses pixel-splitting technology to deliver an effective resolution of 7,680 x 4,320. Or, as the company is pitching it: “virtual 8K”. It’ll also be one of the flagship models for Google’s new Android TV platform.
Talking point: that’s a nice 8K telly, but who’s making 8K shows and films?

SkySpecs Guardian drone

Remember that hovering drone in TGI Friday that spoilt Christmas for one diner by flying into her nose? It turns out some drone companies are thinking hard about getting drones to avoid humans. SkySpecs showed its Guardian drone at the TechCrunch Hardware Battlefield contest during CES, with its ability to sense humans walking towards its whirring blades, and take evasive action.
Talking point: how would this work in a crowded area: for example a restaurant?



Razer OSVR Hacker Dev Kit

Known for its PC and gaming accessories, Razer is also hoping to give Facebook’s Oculus Rift virtual reality headset some competition. Its OSVR headset isn’t a commercial product, as such: the $199 device is more a development platform to help people experiment with VR apps and games, with partners including Unity, Sixense and Leap Motion.
Talking point: can this stop Oculus dominating developers’ thoughts for VR?

Siemens smart hearing aids

In terms of technology that actually has an impact on people’s daily lives, drones and VR headsets come a long way behind hearing aids. That’s why Siemens’ latest products in that category deserve a wider airing: the “smart” part is their promised ability to adapt to different conditions, as well as their integration with iOS and Android apps for other features.
Talking point: hearing aids – will people want apps for that?

Sony FDR-X100V action camera

GoPro doesn’t have the “action camera” market all to itself: traditional tech firms like Sony are just as keen to be helping bikers, skiiers and other explorers – drones included – record their feats. Its new $500 camera’s key selling point is its ability to record at 4K resolution, as well as the promise of wind-noise reduction.
Talking point: can Sony dislodge GoPro as the helmet/drone-cam of choice?

HP Zvr 3D display

There are plenty of concept products floating around CES 2015, as in previous years. HP’s Zvr display will be going on sale, though, with a pair of glasses and a connected stylus that enable users to see and manipulate objects in 3D. Including, in the CES demo given to The Verge, a beating heart. For educational potential alone, this is well worth watching.
Talking point: when will this tech be affordable enough to be more than a novelty?

Intel Curie

Intel wants to be big in wearables: 2014’s acquisition of fitness-tracker firm Basis Science and its $25m investment in smart eyewear maker Vuzix show that. Curie is the latest sign of its ambitions: a button-sized device including Intel’s system-on-a-chip for wearable devices. The idea is that manufacturers will use Curie to give them a head start when making wearables, including preserving battery life.
Talking point: fitness-trackers, yes, but what else will Curie power?

Volkswagen Golf R Touch Concept

The fact that Minority Report gets wheeled out so often as a comparison for whizzy gestural user interfaces suggests we need more filmmakers to dream up future tech. Without Tom Cruise in sight, the controls for Volkswagen’s new concept car’s dashboard are interesting: tracking hand movements via a 3D camera to trigger volume, lighting and other features without you actually touching the dashboard.
Talking point: is this more distracting than reaching out for a knob or button?

MakerBot’s new 3D printing materials

MakerBot didn’t launch any new 3D printers at CES, focusing instead on announcing some new materials for its customers to print with. Its new filaments use composites of limestone, iron and wood to provide a greater range of looks and textures for items printed. Good for anyone making prototypes of objects that don’t lend themselves to a plastic finish.
Talking point: a bigger leap forward for 3D printing than any single new printer?

Snapdragon Cargo

Qualcomm is another big company that wants to take a pivotal role in new technologies: drones, in this case. Snapdragon Cargo is a “flying and rolling robot with an integrated flight controller”, a showcase for its Snapdragon processor in the same way that its Snapdragon Rover and Micro Rover robots were.
Talking point: how soon will Cargo’s tech be available in affordable consumer drones?

New Mophie Juice Packs

There’s nothing wildly new about Mophie’s new battery packs for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus smartphones, but for many owners of those devices, they’ll be a big deal: promising up to 120% extra juice per charge for the 6 and 60% for the 6 Plus. While the latter handset in particular has a beefier battery than previous iPhones, the balance between battery life and performance means companies like Mophie have become an important part of many people’s smartphone lives.
Talking point: seriously though, when is the next big leap in battery tech?

HP Stream mini PC

HP thinks there’s legs in teeny-tiny PCs, judging by its two-inch Stream mini, which will be accompanied by a more expensive Pavilion mini with a similar shape and size. The company is promising quiet running thanks to the devices using 45 watts of power, with an emphasis on cloud storage (with just 32GB of local storage, you’ll likely be needing it).
Talking point: would people rather have tiny PCs or decent-sized tablets?


Samsung SUHD TVs

Another year, another acronym in the world of high-end televisions: Samsung’s SUHD sets are even more super (presumably) than existing UHD (ultra high-definition) sets that people have been buying since the last CES. Cue boasts of “eco-friendly nano-crystal technology and intelligent SUHD re-mastering picture quality engine” from Samsung, and cries of “oh, they’re curvy” from punters.
Talking point: how is the picture really better, in plain English?

Sony SmartEyeglass Attach!

Google Glass is far from a mainstream success, but there are a smattering of other companies hoping to bring smart eyewear to the masses. Or at least to a few more people who aren’t rich white men in Silicon Valley. Sony actually has two products on the go, but its SmartEyeglass Attach! is the most interesting, since it clips on to normal glasses with its miniature screen.
Talking point: how small does it need to get before it’s ready for the mainstream?

Panasonic UHD Blu-ray player

Another prototype with an unclear on-sale date, but Panasonic is the first company to break cover with a Blu-ray player capable of pumping out 4K-quality video, rather than just 1080p content. It’s expected to be one of several models by the end of this year, although nobody tell Panasonic about Sharp’s “virtual 8K” plans...
Talking point: will you watch 4K films from physical discs or streamed from Netflix?

Withings Activité Pop

This new fitness-tracking watch isn’t just one of the cheapest in its category – it’ll sell for $150 – but also one of the nicest looking thanks to its neat, traditional design. The Activité Pop is a third of the price of its predecessor, the Withings Activité, counting steps and sleep quality alike. And it promises to run for eight months at a time from a standard watch battery.
Talking point: are watches ultimately going to be the best fitness-tracking devices?

Samsung SSD T1 storage device

That 16GB USB drive you carry around for work? Pfft. Samsung’s latest tiny storage device is – TECH CLICHÉ ALERT – the size of a business card, yet can hold up to a terabyte of content in its most expensive version. For anyone who needs to transfer files quickly between devices, this and similar devices are likely to be common, with the price coming down relatively quickly too.
Talking point: would this appeal over cloud storage for you?

Toshiba ChihiraAico robot

She looks very realistic. She talks... slightly less so. But ChihiraAico is a “communication Android” – an early glimpse at the kind of robots that might be working in “tomorrow’s service industry and homes”. Translation: you can be as rude as you like about her now, but when you’re old and ChihiraAico version 4.0 is making your lunch, you may regret it.
Talking point: are robots more or less creepy if they’re humanoid?

Narrative Clip 2

Narrative is one of the prime movers in the “lifelogging” area: making small camera designed to be worn on your clothes, which snap regular photographs as you go about your daily business. Its second-generation model was unveiled at CES: easier to clip on, with a better eight-megapixel camera and the ability to wirelessly sync photos with the cloud and/or your smartphone.
Talking point: what’s the social cost of having a camera pointing at everyone you meet?

3Doodler 2.0

The first 3Doodler was a pen device which did well on Kickstarter, then became one of the most accessible ways to explore 3D printing. Now it’s back, launching a Kickstarter for version 2.0 as it was shown off at CES – it’s already exceeded its $30,000 goal by a great distance. The update is slimmer, lighter and quieter to use, with a new nozzle promising “crisper Doodles”.
Talking point: what would you doodle, and would the novelty wear off?

Mercedes-Benz F015 Luxury in Motion

Google certainly doesn’t have the self-driving car space to itself these days: Mercedes-Benz revealed its concept car at CES, complete with Leap Motion gestural controls and seats facing one another, corporate meeting-style. Also interesting: the slightly Knight Rider-ish LED displays at the front and back, to communicate with pedestrians and other drivers.
Talking point: even if we’re not driving, is it good to be more unaware of the outside world?

Sleep Number SleepIQ Kids Bed

Not just a smart bed, but a smart bed for children: this monitors their sleeping patterns, can alert parents if they get out of bed during the night, can have its lights turned on and off remotely, and even includes a “monster detector” to ease young minds’ night-time fears.
Talking point: should we really be quantifying our children’s selves?

Samsung at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show

Samsung at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show 

Once again, Samsung has wowed the crowds at Las Vegas’ Consumer Electronics Show with some truly ground-breaking technology. Find out what amazing new Samsung products you can look forward to seeing in 2015 and how possibilities will be created.

Connecting you with the Internet of Things

What used to be the stuff of science fiction is now science fact. The Internet of Things (IoT) has arrived, connecting you not only with your devices but also with family, friends, colleagues and your lifestyle.
For Samsung, these always on and always connected smart devices will offer better solutions and services, totally personalised to you. Naturally, the connected home will be at the heart of it all. By 2017, all Samsung TVs will be IoT enabled, as will all our devices be in just five years.

All together better


Of course, to truly discover the infinite possibilities that the IoT will bring, requires us to be truly collaborative. That’s why we’re committed to working openly and closely with our industry partners. The SmartThings open ecosystem, for example, is compatible with more devices than any other platform.
Going even further to integrate with third party devices, Samsung has launched the next generation SmartThings Hub and service. All of which will transform your home into the smart home of the future.


True UHD TV has arrived

It wouldn’t be CES if your TV viewing experience wasn’t taken to the next level. This year it’s all about SUHD technology like the stunning Samsung 88-inch SUHD TV JS9500.
As you’d expect, the picture quality is amazing to look at. The screen delivers stunning contrast, striking brightness and the spectacular colours you’d usually enjoy at the movies. Talking of the big screen, Samsung’s SUHD TVs range from 48” display all the way to a wide-eyed 88”.
Furthermore, to ensure you’ve plenty of genuine UHD content to enjoy, Samsung has partnered with the UHD Alliance. From colour quality to sound experience, this union, which includes industry leaders such as Disney, Dolby and Netflix, is dedicated to delivering and protecting the true UHD experiences.


Smart TVs get the Tizen edge

All Samsung TVs in 2015 will be re-engineered with the new and improved Tizen operating system. This open-source platform, based on web standards, makes the TV experience more intelligent and integrated. Its enhanced flexibility allows access to more shows and apps as well as some unique content.
What’s more, Tizen also provides total entertainment. This includes Samsung’s Milk Music streaming services, multi player games like Just Dance Now and even access to PlayStation™Now games, without the need for a console.
 

The 360° sound experience

The way you listen to your music today has changed. It makes sense, therefore, to change the way we deliver it. Thanks to the new Samsung Omni Directional Experience, new audio products like the WAM 7500/6500, create the ultimate sound experience. The unique Ring Radiator technology allows sound to flow in a 360° radius, ensuring that great sound is heard wherever you are in the home.
Robert King, Vice President, Consumer Electronics, Samsung UK and Ireland, said “…we understand the importance of music in the home and these new products will allow our consumers to enjoy vibrant sound combined with ultimate style and design.”


Storage that fits in your pocket

As the world leader in advanced memory technology, Samsung is always looking to improve the way data is stored. The new Portable SSD T1 is a compact, solid state drive that’s beautifully designed and, at only 30 grams, easily fits in your pocket. Amazingly, you can store 1TB of data on it and it offers you unparalleled speed and security. Capable of transferring data four times quicker than an external HDD and strong enough to handle bumps and drops, it’s ideal for business travellers, creative professionals and content creators who work on-the-go.
 

Home is where the tech is

Samsung knows you’re more passionate about your home than ever before. Especially when it comes to the kitchen. That’s why we’ve teamed up with some of the world’s best Chefs to continue developing the popular Chef Collection – a whole suite of beautifully designed, professionally inspired culinary appliances.
As if that wasn’t enough to whet your appetite, the new PowerBot VR9000 goes even further, with its handy remote control for intuitive control. All in all making light work of your housework.

See the latest from Las Vegas

To find out more about Samsung’s latest Digital Appliances and other CES 2015 announcements, take a look at the Samsung CES 2015 press conference and keynote address.

 

Press Conference

Keynote Address

 

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