What We Saw at IFA 2026: AI, Robotics and the Future of How We Work

Earlier this month, the Keyboard Specialists team headed to Berlin for IFA 2026, one of the biggest technology shows in the world. It ran from 4 to 8 September at Messe Berlin, and this year's theme was "The Future is Now". We spent our time on the show floor looking at what's coming next for the devices we all use every day. Touro BerlinTime News

AI is everywhere

It won't surprise anyone that artificial intelligence dominated the show. AI appeared in nearly every category, from smartphones and TVs to toothbrushes and exoskeletons. International Business Times

What interested us more was how it was being used. Some of the more compelling products went beyond bolting a chatbot onto an existing device, with local AI processing, contextual memory and smarter home automation pointing towards more practical uses. AndroidGuys

Some of the examples were charmingly specific. Haier showed a washing machine with a built-in camera that spots a stray red sock before it turns your whites pink. Anker's SleepLab Pro uses bedside radar to track your sleep without a wearable. The pattern was clear: AI works best when it's built into hardware designed for one job. Time NewsInternational Business Times

Robotics stepped forward

Robotics and AI took centre stage as the show opened, and humanoid robots drew plenty of attention. Some of it felt like a glimpse of the future, and some of it felt like a showpiece. As with any trade show, not every idea will reach the mainstream. Xinhua

A reality check

Not everything was rosy. Organisers acknowledged an ongoing memory chip shortage and supply route concerns, which is a reminder that the hardware behind all this innovation still faces real constraints. BGR