CONNECT WITH US
Monday 29 December 2025
MetAI to debut MetGen at CES 2026, targeting the US market
In recent years, digital twin technology has quickly gained traction across industries. With the rapid maturation of AI and big data analytics, enterprises can now build highly accurate, real-time synchronized virtual models, enabling predictive maintenance, process optimization, and other benefits that were once difficult to realize. MetAI, invited by Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) to join CES 2026, will showcase its proprietary AI - and 3D-driven MetGen digital twin platform, formally signaling its intent to capture opportunities in the US smart warehousing sector.MetAI co-founder and CEO Daniel  Yu noted that the US is home to some of the world's largest warehousing market, driven by digitalization efforts from major retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, and Costco. As such, the US has become MetAI's primary target for overseas expansion. "We are honored to receive TTA's invitation to exhibit at CES 2026," Yu said, expressing appreciation for TTA's comprehensive support - from pre-show preparation and customer matchmaking to presentation guidance - which has strengthened the company's confidence in entering the US market.AI fused with 3D technology : Digital twins generated in minutesFounded in 2023, MetAI focuses on developing MetGen, the first AI-native, domain-specific generative platform designed for real-to-sim and sim-to-real integration. By leveraging its proprietary AI and 3D synthesis architecture, MetGen automatically converts traditional CAD and 2D design files into SimReady (simulation-ready) 3D digital twin environments. The platform also incorporates AI, 3D simulation, physics modeling, and automation control logic, enabling users in warehousing, advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, and automation equipment to design, validate, and simulate workflows in a virtual environment before real-world deployment.MetAI further supports the creation of large-scale, high-fidelity synthetic datasets within the digital twin environment, giving AI models access to virtually unlimited training material. This capability accelerates production-line design and product development, while enabling enterprises to derive optimized strategies in simulation before applying them in real operations.By integrating NVIDIA Omniverse with MetAI's proprietary generative models, complex digital twin environments that once required months or even years to build can now be automatically generated in minutes, effectively resolving one of the industry's most persistent adoption barriers: excessively long deployment timelines. The company currently focuses on three key application areas - smart warehousing, semiconductors, and data centers - and completed a US$4 million seed round in 2025, backed by leading investors including Kenmec Mechanical and NVIDIA, making it one of the few Taiwan startups to receive a direct strategic investment from NVIDIA.According to Yu, traditional digital twin development relies heavily on manual data processing, resulting in implementation cycles that may stretch across several months or even longer than a year. Even with newer solutions emerging, model inaccuracies often lead to costly revisions. "MetAI combines AI with 3D generation to directly interpret 2D blueprints such as CAD or BIM files and automatically construct complete 3D twin environments," Yu explained.This approach reduces the typical modeling workload - from hundreds or thousands of hours - to just a few minutes, while delivering high consistency and zero structural error. It enables companies to rapidly plan production lines, build virtual sandboxes for robot training or logistics flow optimization, and significantly boost deployment efficiency.Establishing a US headquarters to capture smart warehousing and advanced manufacturing opportunitiesDespite being a relatively young company, MetAI has quickly secured partnerships with several high-profile enterprises, thanks to the uniqueness and technical depth of its solutions. In addition to working with TSMC, MetAI is collaborating with Kenmec to fully reconstruct the Chief Global Logistics's smart logistics center  into a virtual environment, creating a highly realistic digital twin featuring physics-accurate modeling, executable control logic, and AI-driven optimization capabilities.According to Yu, the rise of AI has prompted Taiwanese startups to shift their mindset - no longer focusing solely on the domestic market but aiming directly at the world's largest and most innovation-driven arenas. "The US has exceptionally strong demand for smart warehousing solutions. We are actively preparing to establish our US team and headquarters, which will include a local team, customer support, and a technical service center. This will place us closer to key customers and significantly enhance our ability to execute in the North American market," Yu said.Yu added that MetAI will continue to strengthen its real-to-sim and sim-to-real capabilities, while expanding integration with a broader ecosystem of automation hardware. The company aims to build an end-to-end twin platform that spans design, simulation, and deployment. Ultimately, MetAI seeks to enable enterprises to advance smart warehousing and smart factory transformations at minimal cost and with maximum speed.MetAI partners with Kenmec to build a high-fidelity virtual smart logistics center. Credit: MetAI
Friday 26 December 2025
VOVO Unveils NEO: Smart Toilet for Health, Safety, Comfort
VOVO Corporation announced the debut of the VOVO Smart Toilet "NEO", a breakthrough in smart home innovation that transforms the bathroom into a hub of health monitoring, family safety, and effortless comfort. Recognized as a CES 2026 Innovation Awards Honoree, NEO is the first toilet designed not only to clean but to quietly protect, support, and improve wellness for families, seniors, and individuals worldwide.Results appear instantly on a wall-mounted display, giving families real-time insights without requiring any extra steps. NEO also includes "Jindo the Dog," a friendly AI monitoring system that detects inactivity. If an older family member hasn’t used the toilet for more than 12 hours, NEO automatically sends an alert, adding a critical layer of safety for seniors living alone.Beyond health, NEO enhances independence and hygiene with its advanced bidet system, offering adjustable water pressure, customizable temperature, and gentle oscillating wash. For users with limited mobility, this means greater comfort and dignity in daily routines. The toilet’s touch-free automation - auto-lid opening, auto-flushing, and motion sensors - reduces contact at every step, while a wireless remote with intuitive LED indicators provides simple control. A heated seat, warm air dryer, eco mode, and low-water design further elevate the experience, combining sustainability with convenience.Despite its advanced features, NEO maintains a sleek, minimalist design that fits seamlessly into modern homes, hotels, and businesses. Toilets are among the most-used fixtures in any household, and NEO leverages this everyday moment to deliver meaningful health insights and peace of mind. For caregivers, families, and seniors, it offers reassurance. For builders and designers, it introduces a new standard in smart living.The VOVO Smart Toilet NEO will retail at $4,990 USD and will be showcased alongside VOVO's expanded lineup at CES 2026, including the VOVO GO 9 Portable Bidet, VOVO Airee Toilet Perfume, and VOVO Body Dryer. Visit  at CES 2026, January 6–9 at the Venetian Expo, Level 2, Halls A–D, Smart Home Booth #53159.
Friday 26 December 2025
DeCloak develops next-generation privacy-preserving AI decision platform for robotics
Service robots are moving quickly into healthcare, security, and public environments. Yet their increasing reliance on visual and spatial perception technologies has introduced a major hurdle: uploading raw visual data to the cloud now poses significant privacy and regulatory risks. European and U.S. regulators have recently designated mobile image collection as a high-risk activity, shifting the robotics industry from a "performance-driven" model to one fundamentally shaped by compliance requirements. This shift is redefining what it takes for robotic systems to scale safely and legally.To address these emerging requirements, DeCloak Intelligences has developed a portfolio of privacy-preserving AI systems that rearchitect how visual intelligence is handled at the edge. This includes DeCloakFace, designed for safeguarding personal biometric traits; DeCloakVision, tailored for medical and caregiving environments; and the company's third-generation core platform DeCloakBrain, developed specifically for autonomous robotics. DeCloakBrain functions as a generic AI decision-making engine for robotic autonomy, enabling spatial perception and task execution without relying on sensitive visual data, making it a foundational technology for future large-scale deployments across regulated environments.According to DeCloak President Dr. Yao-Tung Tsou, the company's core innovation lies in "privacy-by-design at the data source," ensuring that all sensor inputs - such as images and numerical data - undergo irreversible de-identification directly on edge devices at the moment of capture. This is achieved through multilayer techniques integrating differential privacy on edge hardware, image anonymization, spatial computing, global visual fusion, and federated learning. With its proprietary irreversible de-identification technology, DeCloakBrain maintains high-accuracy, low-latency decision-making without using original sensor data. The technology is already modularized across software and hardware, enabling rapid, secure deployment and seamless integration with AMRs, medical service robots, humanoids, and quadruped robots, while supporting scalability in both performance and functionality.From a compliance standpoint, DeCloakBrain aligns with stringent privacy regulations in the US and EU. This allows international customers to meet privacy and safety requirements for public spaces, medical applications, and defense-related use cases, mitigating cross-border deployment risks. Dr. Tsou emphasized that DeCloak's intelligent system is built upon years of accumulated datasets, patented de-identification models, VLM/VLA scenario libraries, and long-standing integration experience with global robotics supply chains. This foundation forms a difficult-to-replicate ecosystem for privacy-preserving intelligence, offering verifiable data protection and robust multi-device interoperability.DeCloak enters a pivotal scale-up year as Japan, US, and Europe markets take shapeIn its global expansion strategy, DeCloak identifies Japan as its fastest-moving commercialization market, with public-space monitoring and smart healthcare positioned as the initial priority sectors. The company's integrated systems for these applications have completed deep technical alignment and are now progressing into phased deployment.In the United States, market development is led by partners specializing in military and law-enforcement robotics. Their systems - already used in defense and policing scenarios - are undergoing military - and police-grade certification, targeting applications such as public-area patrol and security inspection. In Europe, where data and imaging regulations are among the world's strictest, DeCloak follows a software-licensing and system-integration model that enables local manufacturers to rapidly incorporate privacy-protection capabilities into existing hardware platforms.Looking ahead, DeCloak plans to scale shipments across Taiwan and Japan while supporting major clients in deploying smart healthcare, public-space security, and related applications. Japan is expected to become the company's first overseas market to reach meaningful revenue scale. In the United States, following nearly a year of testing DeCloakBrain hardware and software modules with military and law-enforcement partners, the company anticipates entering a "mass production and shipment" phase in 2026, covering use cases such as defense systems, public-area surveillance, and inspections in high-risk operational environments.Additionally, DeCloak's US partners will arrange on-site demonstrations for key customers during CES 2026, serving as a critical evaluation step prior to formal procurement. Europe will enter a full-scale development phase in 2026, centered on software licensing and system integration, enabling manufacturers in Poland, the UK, Germany, and other regions to meet stringent regulatory requirements while adopting solutions for smart healthcare, public-space monitoring, and data-privacy protection.President Dr. Yao-Tung Tsou emphasized that as DeCloak's multi-market strategy matures, the company is positioned at a crucial inflection point where technological readiness converges with commercial acceleration. He noted that 2026 will mark DeCloak's transition from "technology completed" to "global scale-up," with the company committed to expanding real-world deployments and advancing privacy-preserving intelligence and autonomous robotics onto the global stage - defining the next generation of AI-driven robotic intelligence standards.DeCloak's next-generation privacy-preserving AI universal decision platform for robotic systems. Credit: DeCloak