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In the midst of CES 2026, we're seeing more technology offload tasks to robots, whether it's something as common as a vacuum or other household chores. This year, they're smarter, more agile and delightfully more weird -- and mostly powered by artificial intelligence. For every new option that's built to make your home life easier in one way or another, there's another that exists solely to channel your nostalgia and have fun with, and we aren't in short supply of either this year.
Here are some of the best and most interesting robots on the CES show floor this year; we'll continue to add more as we discover them.
CLOiD by LG
LG's home robot with laundry, cooking and dishwasher-emptying skills could mark a major turning point in home robotics.
LGWhile we don't quite have a Rosey from The Jetsons yet, LG's CLOiD robot promises a lot. Using a combination of artificial intelligence and vision-based technology, CLOiD can perform household tasks, such as cooking, laundry and more. The bot is integrated with LG's ThinQ ecosystem, meaning that you'll also need to have other LG appliances to get the most out of CLOiD.
CLOiD looks like the humanoid robot future you'd expect it to. It consists of a head, torso, two arms and wheels for moving around. And it's about as inoffensive as it gets, giving off an almost cartoonish cute vibe. LG's latest combines a series of functions into one robot, making CLOiD a pivot point in the work of home robot helpers.
Roborock Saros Rover
Roborock's Saros Rover is more agile with its unique legs.
Ajay Kumar/CNETIt's funny to think that one of the first "robot" assistants started out as a vacuum, and we're still trying to perfect the task. We've come a long way from the first generation of Roombas and Roborock's Saros Rover shows us just that. One of the biggest tasks that robot vacuums have attempted to address over the years is how they navigate stairs and other obstacles, and the Roborock might be onto something with Rover's angled legs.
The Rover's ability to clear stairs is indeed impressive, but it's far from a speed demon when taking on the task. When we saw the demo of the vacuum in action, it took nearly 40 seconds to clear five large stairs, though it managed to clean each stair on its way up.
Pricing and availability for the Rover have yet to be revealed, but we wouldn't be surprised to see the leggy vacuum debut with a price tag of $2,500 or more.
Sweekar
Yes, it's AI. But it's also so much more than that.
Katie Collins/CNETLet's forget all those robots with practical functions. If there's a hole in your heart that only an AI-powered Tamagotchi-like robot can fill, your wish has been granted with the Sweekar. Its schtick is that it will grow physically larger as you interact and raise it, first starting out as an egg with ears. The egg will eventually "hatch," revealing a display that becomes Sweekar's eyes.
Sweekar has three life stages: baby, teenager and adulthood. To illustrate this further, the little bot's body physically grows bigger throughout each of these stages. Like older Tamagotchi devices, Sweekar requires more interaction and care in its early stages of life and becomes more independent and intelligent as it ages. And if you neglect the Sweekar, it will die, and you'll need to start over from scratch.
This is a device that's all for fun but feels like a genuine successor to the pocket pets from the '90s that took the world by storm. The Sweekar will be available later this year for $150 on Kickstarter.
New Boston Dynamics Atlas prototype
Atlas says "hi!"
Katie Collins/CNETA pivot away from the robots living in your home is a name that is often thought of when it comes to impressive but creepy robot prototypes: Boston Dynamics. Its latest general purpose robot prototype, Atlas, now feels like the future.
The latest version of humanoid bipedal robot, Atlas, can walk with a confident stride, which immediately tells you it's not like its predecessors. It's different and fluid. It also has 56 degrees of freedom, fully rotational joints and hands with tactile sensing capabilities. Its hardware is more powerful and dexterous, and that's just the half of it.
Parent company Hyundai also announced a partnership with Google DeepMind, which could power future robots. Although Atlas itself is designed for repetitive, assembly line work and will do so at Hyundai's manufacturing plant in Savannah, Georgia, the idea of Gemini powering the show isn't just impressive -- it's an important step in this space.
