From A Robot That Grows ‘Chicken Legs’ To LEGO Smart Buildings: The Best Of CES 2026 For The Built Environment

2026 marks the year that LEGO made smart buildings mainstream. Well… not quite, but LEGO did release the Smart Brick, a LEGO brick with a speaker, accelerometers, light sensors, sound sensors and an onboard synthesizer. Depending on the Smart Tag or Smart Minifigure placed near it, the brick will deliver sounds to match those characteristics. The announcement was made at the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Hosted by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), CES is the world’s largest technology trade show and a tech geek’s favourite show, featuring technologies from well-established brands to start-ups. This blog dives into some of the coolest solutions released so far for the real estate market and their potential impact.

No technology show would be complete without a Boston Dynamics robot. The provider released the latest version of Atlas, a fully electric humanoid robot with 56 degrees of freedom, fully rotational joints and the strength to lift up to 50kg. Atlas can be used to perform a range of repetitive or high-risk tasks at construction sites, such as carrying heavy materials across a site. Other robot innovations featured at CES included:

• Roborock’s Saros Rover, a robot vacuum cleaner with two wheel-legs that lift it, allowing it to climb stairs and other terrains, tackling one of the main obstacles for consumer robotic vacuum cleaners.
• Oshkosh Corporation’s fleet of autonomous robots that help airport ground support equipment workers on the tarmac. These robots are equipped to handle multiple ramp and airfield operational tasks, aiming to tackle repetitive jobs. They will aid the departure and arrival of flights and move passengers efficiently to their destination, helping airlines manage costs, uptime and performance.
• Jackery launched the Solar Mars Bot, an autonomous solar robot. It has embedded retractable solar panels that capture power, store it onboard and deliver it wherever it’s needed. The robot uses AI-enhanced computer vision that allows it to navigate autonomously and reposition throughout the day to maximize sunlight exposure. This robot opens up new possibilities for construction – delivering power to equipment in remote sites – and new ways of working, giving remote working a whole new meaning.

Stepping outside of the robotics world, Samsung released the latest version of its portable projector, Freestyle+. It has a 180-degree rotating design, enabling users to project images at multiple angles, and a built-in 360-degree speaker. Samsung focused on automated features for Freestyle+, with 3D Auto Keystone to reduce distorting on uneven surfaces and wall calibration, which analyses the colour or pattern of the surface you're projecting onto and adjusts the image to compensate. This projector provides firms with an alternative to building TVs into conference rooms, and enables organizations to have digital signage in collaborative areas. Meanwhile, HP introduced a PC built into a keyboard: the HP EliteBoard G1a Next Gen AI PC keyboard has 2 USB-C ports, Bluetooth capabilities and comes with a wireless mouse (and no screen). This PC-in-keyboard was built with the hybrid worker in mind – a modular, mobile and lightweight device that users can easily transport to and from the office and then plug into a screen on site.

The technologies showcased at CES could revolutionize the future of the workplace, from electric robots and remote power at construction sites to seamless hybrid collaboration and cutting-edge projections in office environments. For more upcoming and future technologies, check out the Verdantix Tech Roadmap: Real Estate And Facilities Software (2025).