The weird and wonderful CES tech gadgets are coming to a store near you
It wouldn’t be a technology convention without some weird and wonderful devices.
More than 4,500 exhibitors were present at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2025 in Las Vegas.
These booths featured bizarre gadgets, including a spy camera for your garden, a vacuum cleaner that picks up socks from the floor and a cheese maker that makes mozzarella in two hours.
DailyMail.com chose some crazy ones, like a cute fluffy robot imitating a shy baby.
An animatronic pet like a shy child
Mirumi has sensors that detect approaching people, causing him to look around curiously or appear to take cover.
It also has two long arms that wrap around a strap or handle of a purse or bag and cling to it like a small child.
Japanese start-up Yukai Engineering, made in pink, black, white or gray, hopes to launch the robot through crowdfunding in 2025. Models will cost about $70 each.
These cute little animatronic animals are called Mirumis and can cling to straps or sticks while turning their heads around
This photo shows another Mirumi
At CES, the booth was full and many stopped to pet the cute robots and talk to them in soft voices, like those for a cat or dog.
Last year, Yukai Engineering debuted a cute round pillow with a cat-like tail.
The pad contains sensors that change the movement of the cat’s tail depending on how quickly or slowly someone strokes it.
This product, called Qoobo, is available online and can currently be purchased for $253.44 on Amazon or $125 on eBay.
Garden spy camera
Many have invested in doorbell cameras to monitor who is at the door, but what about a camera that monitors who is eating your vegetable garden?
That’s the idea behind Petal, a 12 megapixel 4K camera on top of a similar plastic stem that can be placed anywhere in the garden.
Powered by a solar ‘leaf’, the camera monitors the garden all day and uses AI to identify visitors to the garden before sending details to the user’s smartphone.
It can be placed near flowers to find out which insects visit them, or in a vegetable garden to discover which critter eats all the vegetables.
The above shows the Petal camera, which could reveal to avid gardeners who have eaten their prize vegetables
The camera will be available this spring and will cost less than $100.
It’s sold under the brand name Wonder, owned by Bird Buddy, a Michigan-based company behind a solar-powered bird feeder that uses a camera to photograph birds as they visit to grab some seeds.
Make cheese at home with a cheese maker
There may soon be a cheesemaker in your kitchen.
Fromaggio – whose name is a mixture of the French word for cheese, Fromage, and the Italian, Formaggio – was released late last year and has already sold out.
The machine can make at least 17 different cheeses, including family favorites like cheddar and parmesan and artisanal varieties like blue cheese.
The mozzarella is the quickest and only takes two hours, while instructions are also included for an aged Parmesan (made in two hours and then aged in the cupboard for a year).
Pictured above is CEO Glen Feder with two of his Fromaggio cheese machines
Making the cheeses takes an average of eight to nine hours, and many cheeses require people to come back halfway through to add a new ingredient.
The cheeses won’t make a house or kitchen smell like cheese, the developers said, but they more than make up for it with their flavor.
DailyMail.com tried some feta made by the machine, and have to say it is absolutely delicious.
CEO Glen Feder told DailyMail.com that he came up with the idea to develop the machine after returning to the US after a decade living in Europe and discovering that the cheeses simply weren’t up to the same standard.
“Our cheeses are often processed much further,” he told DailyMail.com, “you just don’t know what additives or chemicals have been put into them.”
Fromaggio has already sold 200 machines and another 1,000 will come onto the market in February.
They cost between $745 and $800.
Above is the robot turtle sold by the pool cleaning company. It could hit the market within two years
A robot turtle to monitor water quality
Pool cleaning company Beatbot has created a robot turtle to monitor water quality.
A spokeswoman told DailyMail.com that the robot swims like a turtle, has a camera in its head and a solar panel for a shell, allowing it to rise to the surface to recharge.
It’s called RoboTurtle and is designed for conservationists to allow them to explore a natural environment without disturbing it.
But staff said many people had stopped by asking if they could buy one for their children to play in the pool with.
There is no information at this time on how much the turtle will cost, but it will likely be at least four figures.
Beatbot sells the world’s best pool cleaners, many of which cost more than $2,000 each.
The RoboTurtle is expected to be released within the next two years after being shown off at CES this year.
Above you can see how the vacuum cleaner picks up a sock with its retractable arm
A vacuum cleaner that can suck up socks
A cleaning company has come up with an ingenious way to prevent your robot vacuum cleaner from getting stuck on discarded socks and underwear.
RoboRock debuted at CES with a new vacuum, Roborock Saros Z70, which was still autonomous but also had a tap installed with a claw on the end.
During a demonstration, viewers were shown how the machine approached a sock, picked it up and placed it in a waste bin.
Employees told DailyMail.com that this was just a demonstration version that came pre-programmed.
They expect to launch a version of the vacuum cleaner within five months that can pick up and move socks when it finds them.
The invention was awarded numerous prizes at the CES fair, including a gong for the best smart home or home technology.