Our Editorial Pick: The CES 2026 Booth Designs Worth Studying
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7/19/20264 min read
Our Editorial Pick: The CES 2026 Booth Designs Worth Studying
7/9/2026
CES 2026 drew 148,000+ attendees across 4,100+ exhibitors. Most booths competed on scale. The ones below competed on ideas. If you are preparing your booth for CES 2027, it is worth checking out the past designs. Here are seven that got our attention — and why.
Aptiv
Aptiv's exhibit made a case that rarely gets made at CES: that automotive-grade intelligent edge technology — sensors, software, compute — has applications well beyond the car. The pavilion framed Aptiv's technology through a cross-industry lens, with hands-on demonstrations covering automotive software management, intelligent edge deployment, and applications in aerospace and manufacturing. For a brand whose technology is largely invisible to the end user, the exhibit did the harder job of making the underlying capability feel relevant and concrete to an audience that had never heard of Aptiv.
John Deere
John Deere's exhibit put AI-powered agriculture and autonomous farming technology at the center, with full-scale equipment on the floor and live demonstrations that made the technology tangible rather than theoretical. The brand's repeated presence at CES and its continued award recognition reflects a long-term commitment to showing up as a technology company, not just an equipment manufacturer.
Abbott Laboratories
Abbott's booth centered on a free, on-site blood-type test conducted by medical professionals — real results in minutes — surrounded by interactive stations for its continuous glucose monitoring systems, grip-strength testing, and concussion-assessment tools. Every product station paired a health insight with a personal outcome. The result was a booth that felt like a service, not a showcase, and one that attendees were still talking about after the show closed.
Caterpillar Inc.
Caterpillar took the CES 2026 keynote stage alongside an NVIDIA collaboration announcement, then backed it up on the show floor with a Cat 306 mini excavator as the physical centerpiece of its AI demonstration. The exhibit built around a concept called "Cat AI Nexus" — used live machinery to show real-time AI guidance, safety features, and fleet management in action. Like John Deere, Caterpillar's continued CES presence is a brand positioning play as much as a product showcase: this is what it looks like when an industrial company decides to own its identity as a technology company.
3M Co.
3M's signature sea-foam color does a lot of work on a show floor where most brands default to black, white, or gray. The exhibit carried that color through the floors, accent elements, and structural details, creating immediate brand recognition from the aisle. Inside, the brand leaned into analog design elements: 2D schematics, hand-drawn-style displays, and material-forward storytelling that contrasted deliberately with the screens-and-LEDs approach dominating the rest of the hall.
Sony Honda Mobility Inc. (AFEELA)
Sony Honda Mobility's CES 2026 booth was its largest to date — a Central Hall presence built around the AFEELA 1 pre-production vehicle in multiple color variations and an all-new concept model. The exhibit architecture leaned into the brand's three values — Autonomy, Augmentation, Affinity — with a design approach that reflected the joint venture's dual DNA: Sony's consumer experience sensibility and Honda's automotive credibility. The brand held its first-ever independent press conference at the booth on Media Day, using the space as a launch platform rather than a display environment.
Roborock
Roborock's booth at the Venetian Expo won the Silver Prize at the Best of Show Stand Awards — and earned it. The centerpiece was the Saros Rover, the world's first two-wheeled, legged robot vacuum, performing a choreographed sequence with four synchronized Saros Z70 units. The exhibit was designed as a performance environment: real-world residential settings, live product demonstrations, and a sequence that drew continuous on-site filming and organic amplification throughout the show. Technical capability, made watchable.
