It’s been a very long year in business—and it’s only February.
I was hellbent on continuing with Part 2 of my economic overview for 2026 with Dr. Mark Pringle, but so much has already changed since that interview just a few weeks ago.
The federal government has tempered some of the Greenland/European Union rhetoric, which is something many of us doing international business desperately needed. Despite the headwinds and defensive posture, we need to go gently into our Euro meetings. Resiliently, my company and many others are continuing to bring offshore revenue into the U.S. This is all new revenue that was never in the market before; my economist buddies say that this is a really big deal.
Wasn’t that supposed to be part of the strategy when, one year ago, the U.S. was declared “open for business”? I thought so, too, but much of what has happened over the last 12 months has confused and mitigated the potential for U.S. expansion with our allies and partners. I spend way too much time reassuring our international partners of our sincerity.
Despite all of the machinations, my company will be bringing 40 more Polish companies to Nevada over the next 21 months, and up to 200 tech companies from Korea. Why these particular countries? Well, because we’ve managed to piss them off less than innumerable other international partners. From a market standpoint, these two countries also represent incredible emerging economies with highly educated and highly motivated populations. Poland just passed Japan as a Top 20 economy. Similarly, Korea is just booming—its international expansion is undeniable. Look at LG, Samsung, Kia, Hyundai, etc. All have formidably exploded onto the U.S. scene over the last few decades. The scaling Korean investment in automation, robotics and chip manufacturing has been unrelenting over the last decade.
That is a great segue to give you my brain dump on the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, as I did a year ago in this very column. It was more of the same, with “AI everywhere,” in products from lawnmowers to sex toys, and finger rings that do everything including leading presentations without a clicker. The AI sex-toy booth had the longest lines for demos, too, go figure. (I kept walking and didn’t touch anything.)
I was honored to be invited by the organizers of the annual Global Business Innovation Summit to be the moderator for a startup panel that was to listen, question and comment on a dozen Korean tech companies. The tech coming out of Korea is truly amazing, via companies as varied as agtech, chip-making, EV suppliers and robotics. The room of 350 people were impressed by the tech and the program. I invited our Polish delegation to the later soiree, and we had a truly international party. It was a hoot.
The AI sex-toy booth had the longest lines for demos, too, go figure. (I kept walking and didn’t touch anything.)
There was not any section of CES where Koreans weren’t present. Every pavilion and convention center had a Korean delegation. They are a tech powerhouse, and growing quickly, similar to my dear friends in Poland—great tech, great people, great economy. I was introduced to many new friends. I will apparently be heading to Korea in the next few months to learn more.
Back to the CES floor: Interestingly, the packed-in-previous-years Meta/RayBan booth was nowhere to be found this year. They are understandably re-thinking the augmented reality strategy more deeply now.
This year featured noticeably more refined robots than last year. They are really starting to develop the kinematics—the abilities to replicate natural human movement, from sitting to walking to grabbing. In my days of building the early virtual reality worlds and pioneering real-world VR apps (circa 1992-1994), one of the hardest things to replicate was human movement. Recall the videos over the last year of the robots losing balance, falling over or being very “mechanical” in their movements.
The robots on display this year are targeted not as prototypes and demos for the future, but as human assistants in the home, ready for you to command them now. The companies are simplifying the interfaces and programming real skills such as doing laundry, dishes and mopping. Robots cleaning robotic toilets—yaaayyy! They even have AI pets that follow and baby-sit your toddler, no kidding. I have the brochure. It’s a bit creepy—but you can take one home today! The vacuums are way past the 2004 Roomba stage now, with arms to move socks out of the way, climb stairs and cool stuff like that.
According to an interview by Jennifer Jolly of USA Today, with Joe Alcedo of Youmanoids—a Los Angeles robotics showroom, no kidding—he’s already sold more than 60 quadruped robots and 10 humanoid robots since August 2025. Most sales were to families, hobbyists and schools. The bots range in price from $5,000 to $20,000.
It’s interesting that robot stores are now popping up. When you ask a human salesperson to see the manager, do you get a robot? Hmmmmmm. Anyway, these are first to market in the retail space, but no doubt, you and I will be seeing these new retailers coming to a strip mall near you. Stay tuned.
There were companies at CES that simply make the “hands” and grabbers for robots. Two-finger grabbers and hands with four to six fingers showed incredible movement and gentle dexterity. These companies are now building the detailed robotic accoutrements that will bring the tech down in price and into a showroom near you.
Recall the legacy of the AI robotic tech that has been around for decades: The aforementioned Roomba, Boston Dynamics’ “dogbots” and others have been pioneering first-generation tech for real-world applications since MIT started pioneering the tech decades before that. In hospitals, restaurants and the auto industry, robots have been ever-more noticeable, especially since the pandemic. In Europe, they’ve had robot busboys for a few years now. They may be here, too, but I haven’t seen them yet.
It is clear: We are entering the era of real personal robots—and not going back. It eerily reminds me of the cool concept of “personal computers” that were new when I was a young man in the ’80s.
OK, one more tidbit: My favorite new product was a French startup, Sternboard, with its cool, all-terrain e-machine for dirt or snow. You simply put skis over the front wheels and swap the rear wheel for a snow paddle—pretty cool. Check out their video; get yours now—and don’t wait for the robot store to open.