Day One of CES.

Day 1 of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is over and already my feet and hips hurt from all the slow walking from booth to booth.

Dick and I decided last night that we would visit the 3D printing area which this year is at the Sands Convention Center.

Our normal mode of transportation is to drive to Circus-Circus and park in their back lot and then walk to the front where the Number 7 Route buses are which take you to the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). However this morning there was a slight change as buses were going directly to the Sands which saved us a lengthy transfer at the LVCC.

The 3D printing area has really grown since last year. We saw many displays of 3D printed products including those made with a sugar base which is eatable. Even chocolate can be used to make eatable products.

Most 3D printing is done from coils of plastic much like that used in a weed whacker and are built up layer by layer and all controlled by a computer program. It is not a rapid process and many small pieces may take up to 24 hours to complete.

Some future materials that will be used are wood, limestone, iron, and bronze.

How about a wearable plastic dress? I can't imagine that it would be very comfortable to sit down while wearing this.

This afternoon I switched venues to the LVCC South Hall Lower floor where a large robotics area had been setup. Here were displayed floor robots, widow cleaning robots, and solar panel cleaners. There are also robots to clean your BBQ grill and how about a Beer Pong playing Robot. It hit the cup almost every time. 

 Two window cleaning robots, one inside and one outside.

 

Beer pong robot.

The rapid growth of Helicopter drones is very evident. In fact they are everywhere at the show. From one booth 3 years ago it has grown to thousands of square feet of displays. From palm sized to large drones 3 and 4 feet in diameter, all were on display.

Probably the most unique were the ones made by Qualcomm who are better known for their cell phone technology. When asked about this one of the exhibitors explained the cell chips were very adaptable to the drone technology. They certainly are also unique in shape as you can tell from this photo, They look more like the old WWI tank shapes but are very functional.

Drone is the wierd blue shape with green propellers in the middle.

I apologize for the poor photos. There are so many people vying for attention that trying to get photos is difficult. Also, all drones must fly within a cage for safety.