CES 2025 will be held in Las Vegas, USA, from January 7 to 10. CES, known as the "barometer" of the global consumer electronics industry, is the largest and most influential exhibition for consumer electronics products and technologies in the world. This year's event is expected to feature thousands of exhibitors and over 100,000 attendees, showcasing the latest innovations in consumer electronics.
Physical AI is set to be the biggest highlight of the show. With breakthroughs in AI technology, physical AI—entities capable of performing tasks related to intelligent biological beings—is advancing, creating a symbiotic evolution of physical bodies, control, forms, motion execution, and perception that are beginning to permeate human life.
Among these, humanoid robots and drones are the two most sought-after physical AI technologies this year.
For humanoid robots, Tesla has showcased multiple new features and performance upgrades for its Optimus robot in 2024, sparking global excitement for embodied intelligent systems. From January to October 2024, the humanoid robotics industry saw significant investments, totaling over 11 billion RMB, with tech giants like Microsoft, NVIDIA, Amazon, Huawei, Samsung, Tencent, OpenAI, and SoftBank all joining the field in various ways.
Drones, driven by global efforts to develop the low-altitude economy and advancements in AI, are demonstrating greater application potential in areas such as logistics, agriculture, aerial photography, emergency rescue, and environmental monitoring. The rapid development of new aircraft like eVTOLs (electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing) further expands the possibilities of Urban Air Mobility (UAM), contributing to a richer, more diverse blueprint for the low-altitude economy.
Both fields are projected to experience significant market growth. Goldman Sachs forecasts the humanoid robot market to reach $38 billion by 2035. Additionally, data indicates that the drone market will experience a compound annual growth rate of 25% over the next five years.
However, both of these mobile physical AI technologies urgently require reliable power sources. Among the commonly used power sources in consumer electronics, lithium batteries offer advantages such as high energy density, long cycle life, and fast charging capabilities. However, they still cannot fully meet the multidimensional needs of humanoid robots and drones, including flexible integration, weather resistance, and safety performance.
At CES 2025, SES AI will unveil a new AI-enhanced 2170 cylindrical battery specifically designed for humanoid robots and drones.
What’s more noteworthy is that this is the first battery to use SES AI’s "Molecular Universe" developed electrolyte material. The new electrolyte, discovered by AI, directly addresses the challenges of high-silicon anode batteries, including issues like lifespan degradation, reduced rate performance, gas generation, and poor low-temperature performance. The new 2170 offers higher rate performance at low temperatures, greater cycle stability, and reduced gas and thermal risks, making it more compact and easier to integrate into humanoid robots and drones.
In addition to the high-silicon anode solution, SES AI’s "Molecular Universe" will also introduce a long-life lithium iron phosphate (
LiFePO4) battery solution in 2025. These solutions will be available in
various battery types, such as small cylindrical, large cylindrical, prismatic, and pouch cells, and will be tailored for different application scen
