CES 2026 robots were wild, silly, and sometimes disappointing but there was one that restored my faith in robotics

Every tech category has its moment, and for robots, that moment was CES 2026. There were dozens of humanoid robots (and a fair number of vacuum robots that grew legs) turning the tech event into a sort of carnival of inhuman oddities.

There were boxing robots, card-playing robots, ping-pong-playing robots, dancing robots, robots that did the laundry, bots that sorted parts, and robots wearing elaborate costumes. It was an eye-popping and extraordinary display of engineering and AI-based training.

The unbeatable bots

Even as bots beat me at Tic-Tac-Toe and took my virtual money in a game of blackjack, I enjoyed them all. Still, if I'm being honest, most of them paled in comparison to Boston Dynamics and the first public demonstration of its Atlas ...