Cool Tech Gets Emotional

From IoT to the Emotion of Things

This report is a summary of the high-level trends we see emerging across the digital-experiential landscape, from augmented-audio reality, to driverless cars and drones, to AI and next-gen robot companions. Yes, it’s broad-brush, but this report also sign-posts how the digital world will transform experiences.

For the events world, the key take-out from CES 2020 (the annual consumer electronics show in Las Vegas) is how machines will become more sentient – more empathetic. This would be a significant development, given emotional engagement is at the heart of what events and customer experiences are about. So, anything that makes technology more empathetic, is a promising step forward.

We report a more confident technology sector. Previous CES shows the tech was exciting but sometimes frivolous or hard to connect back to the real world of practicality and utility. Now the ideas underpinning new tech are not only keeping up with new expectations, but pre-emptively anticipating future behaviours and providing genuine, practical utility – qualities that can make our lives better.

So, the big take-outs for us? Well, we’re fast-moving from the Intelligence of Things to the Emotion of Things. Robotics is evolving from a focus on mobility and navigating the human world, to the new polestar of robotic companionship, particularly the creation of empathy and the quality of human interactions with sentient machines and AI-enhanced services. Watch the space, because all these cool developments could soon work their way into your brand experiences.