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Samsung was the first big exhibitor of the day to pull off a classic CES move - showcasing technology that "could" one day be a part of our lives - while making no promises we'll ever get our hands on it.

Meet Bot Handy, a friendly robot, which turned up to offer the firm's research chief Sebastian Seung a cool glass of water.

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Bot Handy can both "recognise and grab objects", Mr Seung said.

"In the kitchen, in the living room, and anywhere else you may need an extra hand in your home."

It was shown stacking a dishwashers, setting the table, and pouring glasses of wine.

Unfortunately, a press release noted that Bot Handy is, for now, only a "concept" and is not going on sale anytime soon.

CES is known to showcase fun, eye-grabbing robots - like last year's table-waiting robot BellaBot - which had a cat face and purred when petted.

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Samsung made a big pitch for its smart home tech at CES 2021, since everyone's stuck at home.

After announcing its smart fridges launching in the US, it got down to TVs - announcing a massive 110in (279cm) Micro-LED, with no bezels (the plastic or metal frame) around the outside.

Samsung says it built on its gigantic modular TV from CES 2018 - called "the wall" - to build the new "monolith" TV.

It also says its new AI processor will do a better job of content upscaling on its TVs - which takes content and tries to transform it into 4K or 8K content.

In the smart home world, Samsung showcased new health features, with exercise classes delivered through TVs, straight to the living room. It's not immediately clear if that will be available to TV owners, or as a subscription service.

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And then there was a fancy new robot vacuum, JetBot 90 AI, which the company says can clean your room while being smart enough to avoid delicate items like a case.

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And it also has a camera for remote home monitoring - or for taking care of pets while you're away from home, showcased in an elaborate advert involving a feuding dog and cat.

Leo Kelion
Technology desk editor

Image source, LG

LG has said its new range of OLED (organic light-emitting diode) televisions will be able to produce higher brightness levels.

During its press conference it said OLED Evo benefitted from " a new luminous element" that would deliver "punchy images with high clarity, detail and realism".

TV brightness levels are measured in nits - where 1 nit is the amount of light given out by one candle. And while OLED TVs have long offered deeper blacks than LCD models, they can't match the higher-end LCDs in terms of nits.

That has meant LCD screens can offer better HDR images when watched in a bright room - though OLED typically still has the edge when the lights are off.

You want the ability to offer higher peak brightness to do things like show sunlight glisten off water, or display more impressive special-effect explosions.

There have been rumours Sony would unveil an OLED TV capable of 1,000 nits at this year's CES - offering the best of both worlds.

Has LG beaten it to the punch? Well the problem is that we don't know, as the detail provided by LG is so far sorely lacking.

Usually, we'd rush over to the stage at this point to fire off some questions - but with it being a virtual event this year, we'll have to wait and see if LG provides more detail by press release or at its online CES booth later.

In any case, LCD tech continues to offer even higher peak brightness, with LG saying some of its sets can now hit 3,000 nits.

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LG kicked off its conference with an eye-grabbing "rollable" phone which has an expanding screen, rather than opening and shutting like competitor's folding phones.

The tantalising teaser was also shown at the end of the presentation, when the display rolled back into the phone to "close" the show - but no further details about the handset - including when it might go on sale - were provided.

LG made some TV announcements, making it the first firm today to showcase Mini-LED technology, as well as improvements to its flagship OLED TV tech.

Leo Kelion
Technology desk editor

Image source, Getty Images

There's lots of new tech unveiled every year at CES, but at its heart it's a launchpad for new TVs.

Over the years the screens have grown larger and the public has been bombarded with new technologies.

Most recently 4K and 8K sets - referring to their resolution - have come to dominate, and HDR (high dynamic range) image processing - which delivers more vivid pictures - has become the norm.

This year expect to hear a lot about two innovations that are easy to get confused: Mini-LED and MicroLED.

Mini-LED vastly increases the number of light sources on the TV's back panel used to illuminate the screens' colour pixels.

By using tens of thousands of these light emitting diodes (LEDs), manufacturers can deliver more "dimming zones", which helps enhance bright details without the light spilling into surrounding dark areas. This avoids the blooming effect you sometimes in images such as stars in a night sky.

MicroLED is a more expensive solution, which involves using LEDs that are so small they can be assigned to the pixels on a 1:1 basis. Like OLED tech, this allows "true blacks" to be delivered by providing no illumination to some pixels.

But unlike OLED, MicroLED can deliver much brighter highlights, producing more impressive contrast. In person, these screens really dazzle.

Expect Mini-LED to become the norm when you go shopping for a mid-range TV soon. But for the time being, MicroLED screens will remain beyond the budget of most homes, although the big name brands will like to show off what they are capable of.

Read more here:

LG makes shift to Mini-LED television tech at CES 2021

CES 2018: Samsung launches modular TV called The Wall

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The first press conference of the year is from Hisense, which announced its latest TVs to kick off the show.

The Chinese company says that a big screen TV is the "centre of the smart home" - whether it's being used for entertainment or for online lectures or meetings.

In that vein, it announced new laser TVs, at mammoth sizes of 75-100in (190.5-254cm) across. One advantage of laser TV tech is that it can be used for very large displays.

The company claims to have made improvements to the existing technology it first showcased in 2014, which it says now offers a colour display range "almost 50% beyond high-end cinema".

Leo Kelion
Technology desk editor

Image source, Getty Images

The CES tech expo is usually one of the most frantic weeks in the year on the tech beat.

Up to 200,000 people descend on Las Vegas to spot the latest gadgets and technology trends by traipsing round the city's gigantic conference halls.

Tech journalists try to be the first to get hands-on with the hottest products. Retail buyers attempt to obtain the exclusive rights to items that best suit their customers' tastes. Company executives try to keep watch on what their rivals are up to and explore the possibility of tie-ups. And start-ups blow holes in their marketing budgets in the hope of making a splash.

There are conference sessions, but for the most part they are usually a side-show.

This year everything's changed because of Covid-19, and those on-stage conference events take centre stage.

There are virtual booths for the tech firms to show off their wares.

But it's hard to have the same impact when they're not presenting the products in person or answering questions face-to-face.

Welcome to the BBC's live coverage of the first day of CES, where press conferences abound as the tech industry shows off its latest and greatest.

Things are a little different this year, however.

The pandemic has pushed the entire event online-only - a major change for a show which has always had a huge conference venue to host hundreds of exhibitors.

But we're still expecting to see the latest innovations in televisions, home appliances, smart devices and more. Some of it will be in our homes in the near future - but as ever, there will be a fair share of "concept" devices that are pushing the boundaries of what is possible (or marketable).

Image source, Getty Images

Ahead of this year's event, the BBC's Technology editor spoke with organiser Gary Shapiro about what to expect.

"There's a tremendous amount on 5G connectivity. Digital health is also very big," he said.

"Artificial intelligence is increasingly important as we try to figure out cures to Covid. But it's also important in solving many other problems of the world to make it safer, healthier and more efficient."

And the coronavirus pandemic has caused tech firms to rethink their smart city plans, he added.

"People discover they can work from home and live where they want - and maybe the best idea is not tall buildings with windows that don't open," Mr Shapiro said.

• Read more: Tech expo swaps Vegas for a virtual show