One tradition of CES that held true in 2022 was seeing some really positive developments and then seeing some things that put a curious question mark in one’s mind. Case in point of the latter can be seen in the below photo.
Usually, the way to sell smarter plant growing strategies is with healthier looking plants or vegetables. Your correspondent would have even settled for a nice healthy-looking vineyard. However, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency Schedule I plant on the bottom shelf in the above photo was definitely something else to see.
On the incredible end of the spectrum was the below device from Graphene Squared.
Not only can the above device quickly get up to 300 Celsius, but it can do so while using very little electricity. It also helps that the device is easy to clean and enables cooked foods to retain a lot of their moisture. Overall, a very smart device and one light-years ahead of the competition.
Back on the curious end of the diversity scale was the below robot
The robot never quite reached the level of an uncanny valley while watching it and watching other humans interact with it, but it did raise the constant question as to what exactly the robot was picking out on the tradeshow floor to interact with.
The below technology was pretty amazing even for those in the hydrogen and fuel cell industry.
One of the products that eFlow produces is a bike. While eFlow has made innovations where the electric motor technology is concerned, it can pair its electric motor for the bike with a fuel cell stack and a handful of super capacitors (both pictured above). The ability to pair a fuel cell stack and super capacitors is a highly encouraging leap, since it serves as a great example of how to fully transition to hydrogen fuel cell technology without continuing to rely on lithium-ion battery technology as a backup. What is equally amazing is that eFlow is able to produce the bike for about $5,000, which is more than reasonable given the leading-edge technology used in the bike. With an electric motor, fuel cells, and super capacitors the bike can go about 100 miles and speeds up to about 16 miles per hour, both of which are respectable numbers.
Another oddity was the below advertisement.
It was unclear in the above advertisement if the Grim Reaper was trying to take further advantage of Covid-19 with a little practical joke, or if an all-black outfit would somehow help people be eager to upgrade their Covid-19 testing experience. Maybe black is the new white?
One last positive development that Fuel Cells Works saw at CES 2022 was BTE’s fueling station.
The station is designed to refill tanks with hydrogen up to 35MPa, which works really well for a fuel cell bike, drone, or other mobile fuel cell technology. Currently the station creates its hydrogen by way of electrolysis. Mobile hydrogen fueling stations are definitely something the world needs, and this is an area that will likely see significant investment in the future. Fuel Cells Works is definitely looking forward to providing continued coverage on BTE.
Despite so many Covid-19 changes, seeing the technology spectrum still range from highly useful to highly questionable at CES 2022 meant that the value of CES was alive and well. After all, CES is all about innovation and getting a glimpse of the future, and when a significant breadth of technological innovation can clearly be seen at CES it means that innovation and technology advancement is also still alive and well. Overall, the diversity of technologies at CES 2022 was very evident and it provided hope that however restricted things may look now they will not be that way forever.
Jesse Lyon, Contributor
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