Trend-spotting at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show

January 11, 2017 | The 2017 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), held January 6-9 in Las Vegas, brought emerging innovation to life across every major industry, from automotive and sports to healthcare, toys, entertainment, and more. The Toy Industry Association’s (TIA) Ken Seiter, VP of marketing communications, and Ken Ebeling, VP of strategic development and member services, were on-hand to preview some of the latest product launches and hear from leading tech experts at the show. Toy News Tuesday sat down with Seiter to discuss some of the biggest tech trends he spotted at CES – and which among them may influence the toy and youth space.

TNT: What sparked your interest at this year’s CES?

KS: I was captivated by the sheer size and scope of the show – which was about as big as 35 football fields – and the vast number of “connected” products aimed at simplifying life for the average person, from robotics (like self-driving cars), to the “Internet of Things” (the big winner here is Amazon’s Echo and its ubiquitous voiceover, Alexa, now imbued in a range of household appliances), to wearable health gadgets (tracking everything from sleep to sunlight exposure). With each exciting innovation came a solution for day-to-day problems and tasks.

TNT: What was your personal favorite product or trend?

KS: I thought it was interesting to see that self-driving cars will become a reality as soon as 2020 and that augmented reality has real legs beyond Pokémon Go! and Ingress. AR is being applied in medical schools (allowing students to use AR to explore live human anatomy) and in a variety of other settings. This is interesting for the toy industry because there has been a lot of talk over the past several years about supporting traditional play patterns in what has become a very tech-driven world. Augmented reality provides kids with the opportunity to enjoy new, high-tech experiences while also keeping them grounded and interacting with real people and their environment. A great example of this is Spin Tales, augmented reality-infused bedding for kids.

TNT: Any thoughts on which emerging technologies will impact toys?

KS: The biggest tech trends in toys for this year will be unveiled by TIA’s trend experts at the upcoming North American International Toy Fair (Feb. 18-21) – so stay tuned for that. As for what’s to come beyond 2017, it’s hard to say, but I heard some interesting views at the Kids@Play and Family Tech summits held during the show. It was interesting to hear how coding is growing and will influence the STEM/STEAM movement. At one time coding was a nice educational “bonus” – but a growing number of educators now consider coding to be an essential subject, with 24 countries mandating that children learn how to code. So, we can expect to see an influx of toys teaching kids as young as three how to code. I also learned that interactive, connected toys – like the app-connected Edwin the Duck – are on the rise, as well as physical toys that incorporate or combine robotics, artificial intelligence, auditory, kinesthetic, and other components to enrich play (examples include Square Panda, a connected toy that teaches literacy skills and LEGO Boost, which turns regular LEGO bricks into robots).

While it remains to be seen how these innovations and overall tech trends will influence the toy industry, I think it’s safe to say that toys will continue to evolve and adapt to incorporate the latest consumer tech trends. After all, kids want to have all the fun that their parents are enjoying with their various apps, gadgets and so on.

For a more in-depth look at this year’s CES trends, I encourage you to check out David Pogue’s round-up at Yahoo! Finance or Ed Oswald’s article at Digital Trends.