CES 2025 Proves It's Still Deeply Weird With These Bonkers Gadgets

Not all devices can be vacuum shoes, but most of the weirdest gadgets shown at CES every year are mouth-based; that's just science. In 2025, we've got a smart toothbrush for children that personally gives me the spooks, and that's just to start. Also, there's a spoon that gives you a mild electric jolt to simulate salt -- we're big fans of pumping electricity into our wet gobs around here!

Read on for the strangest things we've seen from the show floor on the third day of CES.

I don't usually get press releases for gadgets I really hate sent directly to me. But the moment I opened the email for this Willo device, I couldn't help but repeat, No! No! No!

See, apparently you can't trust kids and their little hands. Robots can do it better! With the Willo AutoFlo Plus, kids chomp down on the horse-bit thing with the brushes on it and then have to stand there with the handle dangling out as the machine whirs away on their teeth. It's like an espresso machine, but instead it's your child's face. The device is smart, and it has an app, but seriously, who do I have to call about this?

The "Electric Salt" sounds like a dance, but this kind involves the fleshy muscle found in the mouths of most vertebrates -- because this is CES. The Kirin Electric Salt Spoon changes the salt ions with scientistics, to give your tongue more of that salty taste it loves, with microscopically-less sodium.

Our intrepid tester, Jon Reed, thought the difference was subtle but still noticeable. Nothing like paying for a gadget that might work if only you believe in it hard enough! The Kirin Electric Salt Spoon is the spirit of Christmas for the condiment world. 

Last year, I chose PlantPetz as the weirdest gadget of CES. It's a plant pot that jiggles plants around with our old friend -- electricity! The LeafyPod pot goes one better. It makes plants talk, by using sensors, so you know if they need watering or -- you know -- prefer to be fed with human blood.

I say this because if you've ever seen the original, deleted ending of Little Shop of Horrors, you know where making plants talk ends up: Arborgeddon.

Ever wondered what that robot from Star Wars Episode IV, with all the spidery, spindly arms, did? You know, the one in the sandcrawler? Well, now I can exclusively reveal: It picked up socks! Just like Roborock's Saros Z70 does. This Roomba-like device also vacuums, but I'm more interested in where the Rebels have hidden the plans. The Saros Z70 isn't the only weird vacuum at CES this year. There's also the Dreame X50 Ultra, which has two little wheeled appendages that pop out to help it climb stairs -- or at least 2-inch high ledges. And Dreame also says it's working on a vacuum that can pick up socks. I'm sure I'm not the first to say that CES is a pressure cooker of robot-based underwear fervor! And speaking of Star Wars, there's the...

R2D3 (see what they did there?) is a "Roomba on steroids," according to its founders. CNET sister site Mashable says that its only demonstrable ability at the show was opening soda cans. For $40,000.

To me, it looks like a fairground skill tester. Hit the target and see if you can ring the bell. Give me that huge mallet; I know just what to do.   

We were all thinking it, so how do I put this delicately? The Realbotix Aria looks like a sex doll. At $175,000 it's also a very complicated and expensive one. Sure, it uses AI to chat, and it has a removable face like Yul Brynner in Westworld, but people will still buy it to have relations with.

This is the AeroCatTower, a combined cat perch and... air purifier, as spotted by CNET sister site Mashable. Call this thing what it is: a passive cat groomer. It doesn't want to remove cat hair from the air -- it goes directly to the source! Your cat sits on the tower and the fan gently siphons fur away from the body.

The tower has a sensor, which detects a pet's weight, shuts off the top fan, and sends its findings directly to headquarters. They want to know about our heavy cats!

I know cats are strange, but my cat doesn't like things that whirr and hum. He wouldn't go near this thing.

I still can't decide whether this next gadget is brilliant or very, very silly. Add-on screens for your laptop have been around for years, and they're useful for travelers who need to do presentations on the go. The big "huh?" with the FlipGo Horizon, though, is the weight. Strapping a pair of these to your 3-pound Macbook Air adds an extra 5 to 8 (!) pounds, and it kinda reminds me of Icarus while it's doing it. Want to look like a l33t gamer in your local coffee shop, even if you're just tabulating figures? The FlipGo Horizon gives you two front-row tickets to StaresTown!

While you're here, check out the best TVs of CES 2025 and the best products from the show floor.