The Tribune

The 50th annual Consumer Electronics (CES) show gets underway in Las Vegas this week with highlights expected to be an explosion of voice-controlled interfaces, subtle integration of artificial intelligence into everyday life and increasing digitisation in areas like health and wellness.

CES is expected to draw 165,000 attendees. In the past, it has been a showcase for stunning new gadgets, but in recent years it has evolved into an event where more incremental steps forward are revealed.

Shawn Dubravac, chief economist of the Consumer Technology Association, said in a panel Tuesday that voice control will be far more prevalent this year than it has been in the past. Voice-activated systems are expected to double to 10 million in 2017, he said.

Meanwhile, artificial intelligence is finding its way into more products, such as a refrigerator that can self-adjust its temperature for optimal humidity.

“The broader theme is how we’re increasingly allowing these small things to be automated,” he said. “It started with changing the temperature in the room, and now it’s changing the temperature in your refrigerator.”

Elsewhere, there will be new drones, personal robots and connected and self-driving cars on display, as well new wearable devices that give insight into specific health and wellness categories like preventing concussions or measuring vitamin D deficiency.