To conclude my visit to CES, I’ve made it a tradition to stop by the Innovations exhibit to end the show with a final look at what’s coming next. Tucked away at the Sands Expo center, the exhibit is nestled in among the much smaller companies peddling anything from virtual reality video games to tasers for personal security. Innovations is the showcase for the best products at CES, as voted by the Consumer Electronics Association. It’s a good way to make sure you haven’t missed anything big.

What I found were robots that sweep, vacuum and wet mop your floor; remote control moving wall mounts for flat panel televisions; surveillance cameras that monitor your home and report to you via IP; speakers disguised as tattered books and floor lamps; and a virtual keyboard that projects a full-sized laser keyboard onto any surface—perfect for entering data into a Blackberry or PDA. It turned out to be exactly what I expected: a lot of interesting stuff just waiting for the right marketing.