CES offers peek into tech future

The iPal robot is designed to engage children through interaction, dancing and singing and providing educational games and exercises. The 3 1/2-foot tall robot, which also comes in pink or blue trim, is equipped with a monitor for adults to keep an eye on children remotely. (Buford Davis/Las Vegas Business Press)

A robot can be controlled using neuro-feedback via a BMI (Brain Machine Interface) wearable. The exercise has been shown to improve attention spans and has been utilized in the treatment of children with attention deficit disorder. (Buford Davis/Las Vegas Business Press)

This compact, easy to maneuver wheelchair - created by Silicon Valley, California-based company Whill, can make tight turns for small space maneuverability and can traverse gravel, curbs ice. The chair is on the market. It weights 250 pounds and retails for about $12,000. (Buford Davis/Las Vegas Business Press)

The box-like UISEE from Beijing-based USIEE Technologies features 360-degree view cameras, object detection sensors and self-parking capability. (Buford Davis/Las Vegas Business Press)

The Lumigent desk lamp was a 2017 CES innovation honoree for its artificial intelligence capabilities. The lamp, produced by Tokyo-based Cerevo Inc., can adjust brightness and position by voice command and has a built-in camera to take snapshots of the desk. (Buford Davis/Las Vegas Business Press)

LeEco debuted its LeSee electric concept car at CES 2017. The vehicle has autonomous driving and facial recognition capabilities. (Buford Davis/Las Vegas Business Press)

Virtual reality technology, utilized for anything from gaming to innovative auto design, was among the sectors of particular interest at CES 2017. (Buford Davis/Las Vegas Business Press)

Unmmaned Aerial Systems technology was a highly represented sector at CES 2017, including these models from Shenzhen, China-based DJI, founded in 2006. (Buford Davis/Las Vegas Business Press)

“Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door” is the often-quoted paraphrase of a Ralph Waldo Emerson passage. It is also the guiding principle for businesses — both large corporations and startups with only a handful of employees — who are hoping to strike gold in the ever-burgeoning tech industry.

The annual Consumer Electronic Show is the stage where tech companies from around the world present the products they hope will catch the wave of worldwide public interest that now seems almost insatiable.

Nearly 4,000 exhibitors presented their wares for 160,000 trade industry visitors at the Las Vegas Convention Center and 10 other venues on or near Las Vegas Boulevard Jan. 5-8.

A dizzying array of products ranged from smart toilets to smart cars and included nearly pointless novelties and truly innovative designs with the potential to enhance or even save lives. The CES experience is one of sensory overload, and no visitor can really absorb everything that is on display. Below is a selection of notable products that made an impact in 2017.

So, back to the mousetrap. The patent for the classic flat, spring-loaded bar mousetrap we are all familiar with was granted to William Chauncey Hooker in 1894.

Inventors and engineers, as well as sadists of many stripes, have since designed mousetraps that electrocute, crush, impale, poison, stick (as in glue) and non-lethally ensnare rodents in an array of imaginative ways.

But what is the best-selling mousetrap style? It is the spring-loaded bar trap, slightly modified but fully recognizable as a version of Hooker’s classic.

Maybe that’s a lesson worth heeding for engineers and designers who are eager to advance technological products at an exponentially increasing rate into a competitive and discriminating world market.