CES has long been the launchpad for a wide range of tech products - not all of which make it to market. [Source: BBC]

Under normal circumstances, this would have been one of the busiest weeks in the tech calendar.

Thousands of new products would have been unveiled; chief executives and celebrities would have vied for attention, and robots would have probably malfunctioned on stage.

But the coronavirus pandemic meant the giant CES tech expo could not be held in Las Vegas, and it has instead slipped later than normal to an online-only event, beginning on Monday.

There will still be lots of new gadgets. New kinds of TVs, vacuum cleaners which throw away their own waste, and computer monitors specifically designed for Microsoft Teams work chats, are among products to have been teased in advance.

But the shift to a virtual event means much of the buzz will inevitably be lost.