CES 2026 and the rise of Public-area Mobile Robots
- Jan 27
- 6 min read
Updated: Jan 28
Author: Francisco Javier Martin Romo
Date Published: January 27, 2026
For years, robotics has been described as “coming soon” to our cities, streets and homes. At CES 2026 in Las Vegas, the tone shifted. The most meaningful signal was not a single headline-grabbing machine, but a broader pattern: robots are moving out of controlled environments and into shared spaces, the places where people simply live their lives.
These are sidewalks and pedestrian zones, but also airports, campuses, shopping centres, resorts, mixed-use districts and large venues. On the show floor, this translated into delivery robots for indoor delivery in apartment complexes or hotels, airport support robots for ground crews, and quadruped platforms for security patrols and inspections. All these systems have something in common: they fall under the Public-Area Mobile Robots (PMRs) category, which includes unmanned mobile robots (on wheels or legs) typically operating at pedestrian speeds in public or semi-public areas, around bystanders.
That last word, bystanders, is the pivot. It changes everything.
From “industrial robotics” to “everyday robotics”
Industrial robots have been delivering value for decades. But they typically operate in spaces designed for them: fenced cells, controlled warehouses, structured production lines. The humans who interact with industrial robotics are usually trained, equipped, and aware of the process. They know where they can stand, what the machine will do next, and what to do if something goes wrong.
Public-area mobile robotics involves a fundamentally different model. PMRs operate in environments that are not engineered for robots, among people who are not trained for robots, and, crucially, often didn’t choose to be near them. At CES 2026, for example, GoLe Robotics’ AA-2 was explicitly framed around premium residential and mixed-use buildings, including elevator integration supporting overnight delivery. Exactly the kinds of places where bystanders may be present but untrained. They may be distracted, in a hurry, unfamiliar with the technology, or physically vulnerable. Some will have accessibility needs. Others will have concerns about privacy. A robot might be “safe” in a lab and still feel unsafe in a crowded corridor if it behaves unpredictably, hesitates awkwardly, blocks a path, or fails to signal intent.
This is why the next phase of robotics is not just a technology story. It is a governance story.
What CES 2026 suggested: “physical AI” is entering the street
CES is still a consumer-technology show, but robotics has become increasingly central. In 2026, the narrative leaned strongly into what many call “physical AI”. The idea that AI is no longer only a software layer but an operational capability in machines that perceive, decide and act in the real world. This was evident in humanoid “physical AI” demos, in quadrupeds like the Lynx M20 Pro, promoted for inspection, and in autonomous airport robots tasked with assisting ground-support operations. CES coverage itself highlighted this shift, and NVIDIA’s messaging amplified it through the lens of autonomy, reasoning models, and safety toolchains.
One announcement stood out for its broader implications: NVIDIA introduced Alpamayo, presented as an open portfolio of AI models, simulation frameworks and datasets for autonomous-vehicle development. Even if the immediate focus is autonomous vehicles, the direction matters for PMRs because the hardest part of public deployment is not speed or battery life. It is safe performance across the “long tail”: rare scenarios, messy contexts, unpredictable human behaviour, imperfect infrastructure, and ambiguous right-of-way.
If autonomy becomes more standardised as a shared toolchain (simulation assets, validation methods, and safety workflows) PMRs benefit indirectly. But the same reality also raises the stakes for cities and operators: as capabilities spread, more robots will enter more shared spaces faster than governance can comfortably keep up.
The “other” public areas: where PMRs will scale first
When people think about public-area mobile robots, they often picture sidewalk delivery on city streets. That is important, but it is not the whole picture. Some of the fastest growth is likely to come from semi-public spaces, places that feel public yet are privately managed: airports, malls, resorts, campuses, major venues, business parks.
At CES 2026, this was reflected in robots explicitly targeting these domains: GoLe Robotics’ AA-2 for mixed-use residential buildings and Oshkosh’s modular robots for airport operations. These environments matter because they reduce deployment friction. Operators can iterate operations, adjust routes, refine interactions, train staff, and improve incident response without waiting for complex municipal processes. In practice, they can move from pilot to programme faster.
But the bystanders, passengers, guests, or untrained people are still there. A mall corridor is not a factory aisle. A hotel resort is not a warehouse. The public is diverse and untrained. People are not expecting robots. They are not briefed. They may not even notice the robot until it is close. That is precisely why PMR behaviour must be predictable, legible, and respectful.
Mobility is expanding, and so is the governance surface
CES 2026 also highlighted an engineering direction that matters for public deployment: robots designed for rougher, less structured environments. Cities are not flat. Curbs, slopes, uneven paving and cluttered pathways are normal. Robots that can handle these realities expand the range of places where PMRs can operate.
DEEP Robotics’ Lynx M20 Pro, for example, was recognised by the CES Innovation Awards as a wheeled-legged quadruped designed for complex terrain environments. Hyundai’s robotics showcase included WIA parking robots that autonomously reposition vehicles in tight parking structures, and Boston Dynamics’ Spot demonstrated inspection work supported by Orbit software. This matters less as a set of individual products and more as a category signal: when mobility increases, the deployment domain expands. What starts in controlled private property can migrate into semi-public areas and eventually into broader public pathways.
As that migration happens, the question becomes urgent: will PMRs behave in ways that are safe, consistent, predictable and understandable across different places?
The next bottleneck: trust, predictability, and shared rules
In public areas, the key requirement is not that a robot “works”. It is that it behaves predictably around people, and people accept the robot.
Predictability means the robot should communicate intent (through motion, positioning, signalling, or interface cues) so humans can anticipate what will happen next. It should yield appropriately. It should avoid blocking. It should handle “awkward moments” (a child running past, a group stopping suddenly, a wheelchair approaching) with conservative behaviour. It should stop safely. And when it cannot proceed, it should recover without escalating issues.
This is where standards become essential, not as paperwork, but as a practical way to encode expectations across stakeholders. Without standards, cities end up with fragmented local rules, operators face uncertainty across jurisdictions, and the public sees inconsistent behaviour from one robot brand to another. In that environment, a single negative incident can define the narrative.
URF's leadership to draft ISO-4448 is precisely aimed at this challenge, providing an overview of the deployment paradigm for ground-based automated mobility systems on shared pathways and kerbsides, recognising that automated and non-automated devices co-exist in real public space. URF’s focus is to support this ecosystem by aligning communities, connecting cities, operators, researchers, and industry around shared concepts and safe deployment practices.
The timing matters. CES 2026 suggests that public-area mobile robotics will expand in both visibility and variety. When the market grows faster than governance, the cost is paid in public trust.
Why standards thinking matters now
The most important difference between PMRs and traditional industrial robotics is not autonomy sophistication. It is the social contract.
Industrial robotics typically operates where humans accept the rules of the environment. Public-area mobile robots operate where humans have not agreed to anything. Bystanders, travellers or guests did not sign up for a pilot. They did not receive training. They may not even know what the robot is. In that context, standards are not optional. They are the mechanism through which society makes the deployment acceptable.
Standards help translate “this robot is safe” into something testable and comparable. They help define minimum expectations for behaviour, signalling, incident reporting, and the basics of coexistence. They help operators move faster because they reduce ambiguity. And they help the public because they reduce surprises.
If we are entering a world where PMRs become a normal part of sidewalks, campuses and malls, then safety and trust cannot be reinvented from scratch, city by city.
Conclusion: CES 2026 was a signal; standards are the multiplier
CES 2026 did signal that we are moving toward broader, more routine deployments in shared spaces. On the ground, that looked like award-winning inspection quadrupeds, resident-facing delivery robots in apartment buildings or hotels, and autonomous ground-support robots for airports, all operating closer to everyday bystanders than previous generations of industrial automation.
The success of this transition will be decided less by demos and more by daily behaviour: robots that consistently yield, signal, stop safely, and respect the people around them, especially those who never chose to interact with a robot in the first place.
The future of public-area mobile robotics will be built by technology, but enabled by trust.
Additional resources/reference links:
https://www.ces.tech/ces-innovation-awards/2026/evw-1-universal-elevator-interface-for-autonomous-robot/ https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/279905/LYNX-M20-Wins-CES-Innovation-Award-DEEP-Robotics-Debuts-Intelligent-Inspection-Solution-at-CES
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