New Year, New Tech
From smart toilet tech to a security device that uses the vein patterns in the hand to create a one-time cryptographic key, it’s not surprising that some of the most interesting and innovative tech introduced at CES 2026 was from the Health and Wellness category. Here are the highlights.
Age Tech
Many of the show’s standout products, including the winner of PC Mag’s Best in Show, are aimed at healthy aging. Here are three that are poised to make a real difference.
Best in Show: Tombot Jennie
Interactive cuddle toys provide comfort and mental stimulation for users with dementia and similar conditions. Current models can mimic breathing, purring, and other functions, and some can even vocalize in response to user actions. Tombot’s Jennie, the robotic Golden Retriever, takes the idea a few steps further. Jennie can raise her eyebrows, bark when the user asks if she wants a treat, and use different sensors to “hear” users, “feel” when users pet her, detect light and temperature changesn (to avoid nighttime barking), and more. When Jennie comes on the market in the summer, Tombot will market her not only to users with dementia, but also people facing loneliness or the loss of their own pets. Tombot’s robotic dog won PC Mag’s Best in Show.
Osteoboost
According to the Bone Health and Osteoporosis Foundation, 10 million Americans are currently living with Osteoporosis. Another estimated 44 million have low bone density. Osteoboost’s device has just been cleared by the FDA as a breakthrough treatment for Osteopenia. The device is worn on a belt, and sends targeted vibrations to stimulate bone building cells in the spine and hips. Trials have shown an 83 percent reduction in vertebral strength loss, an 85 percent reduction in vertebral bone density loss, and a 55 percent reduction in hip bone density loss.
Smart Hip Guardian
For some people, a broken hip can trigger a downward health spiral from which they may never recover. The Smart Hip Guardian is another belt-mounted device, and it has the potential to prevent fractures in the event of a fall. The device uses sensors to detect a change in gait, speed, or angle. Software algorithms predict a fall and deploy airbags around the waist and hips. The company says the airbags inflate 0.2 seconds before impact, which can prevent hip fractures.
Smart Bathroom
A number of companies introduced technology aimed at our most intimate functions.
Smart Toilets
Smart toilet technology was introduced by two companies with very similar names: Vivoo and Vovo.
Vivoo introduced a hydration tracking device that attaches to your toilet and collects urine samples. The device then sends the information to an app on your phone. The app will alert you if you need to drink more water. Vovo introduced a whole smart toilet with a built-in urine sensor that displays results on a wall-mounted monitor. It can also contact a family member to suggest a welfare check if the toilet isn’t used for eight to ten hours.
In the number two spot on the program, Kohler and Throne introduced toilet cameras that analyze a user’s bowel movements and send them information about gut health, possible blood in the stool, and other data.
IOT AI Toothbrush
Baracoda introduced an AI-powered toothbrush that, the company claims, could help to predict a heart attack. The toothbrush itself tracks brushing quality. Baracoda’s BConnect Hub brings together this information with data from other smart devices in the bathroom. This information could be used to predict health problems in the making. Said Thomas Serval, Baracoda’s CEO and Founder, “The ‘Bathroom of the Future’ isn’t about smart mirrors. It’s about early warnings hiding in plain sight.”
Longevity Mirror
Speaking of smart mirrors, Nuralogix introduced a mirror and body scan that it says can identify potential health risks 20 years in advance. The mirror analyzes the blood flow patterns of the user’s face, then scores a number of factors from zero to 100, including heart health, mental stress, cardiovascular disease risk, metabolic health, and biological age.
An Even Smarter Scale
The Withings Body Scan 2 is a smart scale that takes two measurements usually only available in a doctor’s office: blood pressure and glycemic dysregulation. In addition, it measures 60 biomarkers that can influence long term health, aging, and the risk of chronic illness. The goal of these measurements, according to the company, is to spot small physiological changes early enough to prevent larger problems down the road.
Women’s Health
A number of technologies introduced this year focussed specifically on women’s health.
FlowPad
Vivoo also entered the Women’s Health arena with the FlowPad, a smart period pad that tests menstrual blood for ovarian health, fertility, and hormones. The disposable pads have the test on the underside, where it can be scanned to upload the information into an app.
OhmBody Menstrual Pain Diffuser
Since the beginning of time, women have searched for relief from menstrual pain. The OhmBody device provides it through neurostimulation. Similar to a TENS unit, OhmBody delivers electrical impulses to nerves. Unlike a traditional TENS unit, however, OhmBody attaches to the ear, rather than to the affected area, targeting the auricular branches of the trigeminal and vagus nerves. These nerves target muscle contraction and other functions that can change during the menstrual period, potentially alleviating cramps.
Security
Several groundbreaking entries addressed the issues of data and other security.
IBM’s Pharma Blockchain
Counterfeit drugs kill up to one million people each year, and recalls can take days to reach pharmacies. IBM, working with Merck, Walmart, and KPMG, IBM, ran an FDA pilot for the Drug Supply Chain Security Act. The pilot used blockchain technology, and the result was 100 percent traceability of medications from the manufacturer to the pharmacy, and a reduction of recall notification time from days to seconds.
Your Veins are Your Password
Veintree won this year’s CES Innovation Award with their AuthEnTHICator dongle. This dongle reads the vein patterns of a user’s hand—vein patterns are unique, like fingerprints–and converts it into a one-time cryptographic key. No data is stored. The system anchors verification to the Polkadot blockchain, creating tamper-proof authentication, which can go far toward stopping identity theft, as well as theft of personal medical data, prescriptions, and records.
Other Highlights
Finally, there were a huge number of fantastic ideas that didn’t fall into any one area. Here are a few of them.
Allergen Alert Food Tester
People with food allergies are potentially taking their life in their hands every time they eat out. Allergen Alert, a pocket-sized laboratory, can help to take the guesswork out of allergen detection for people with allergies to gluten and dairy. All the user has to do is take a sample of their food, place it inside a single-use pouch, insert the pouch into the device, and press a button. In minutes, the device will reveal whether the allergen is present. Allergen Alert, which is currently in development, was selected as a winner in the Best Startup Category in the Official Best of CES 2026 Awards.
Self-Serve Eye Exam
What if you didn’t have to schedule your eye exam weeks in advance? What if you could simply walk up to a device on the wall and get your prescription on the spot? The Eyebot, another winner of the CES Innovation Award, gets the user from exam to prescription in under two minutes. The results of the exam are reviewed remotely by a licensed eye doctor. The prescription is then emailed to the user.
"Our mission is to make buying glasses as easy as buying shoes," said Matthias Hofmann, Ph.D., Founder and CEO of Eyebot. "Walk in, get tested, pick your frames, walk out. No appointments. No insurance headaches. No waiting weeks for what should take minutes."
AI Sleep Tech
Many people have a hard time turning off their thoughts and getting to sleep. The Elemind headband uses AI to read brainwaves in real time, then emits targeted acoustic pulses to guide the brain into sleep. The AI “Sleep Tailor” learns the user’s individual brain wave patterns to improve its performance every time. Trial participants cut their time to sleep by 74 percent, resulting in a median time of 11 minutes to sleep.
Haptic Interface for Robotic Surgery
Surgeons performing robotic surgery can see what the robot is doing, but they can’t feel it, like they could if they were using their own hands. Haply Robotics’s haptic devices are hoping to change that with a number of devices. The Inverse3X, for example, allows surgeons to sense tissue resistance during remote surgery up to 500 miles away.
"We're combining digital twinning with AI simulation to create a complete sensory loop," said Colin Gallacher and Steve Ding, co-founders of Haply Robotics. "The surgeon doesn't just control the robot. They feel what the robot feels. That changes everything about what's possible in remote medicine."