CES 2016: The Future of Tech

ABC News -- The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is a technology nerd's playground -- and this year it was bigger than ever.

There were more than 3,600 exhibitors spread across 2.47 million-square-feet this year. The Consumer Technology Association, which hosts the annual trade show, said the show brought more than 170,000 people to Las Vegas.

Show participants are given a glimpse into the future and new technology stars are born at CES. Here were the biggest takeaways from this year's show.

Virtual Reality Is Here to Stay

There's no doubt 2016 is the year virtual reality begins to go mainstream. Jaunt, NextVR and Oculus all grabbed headlines last week for their VR cameras -- and in the case of Oculus -- its $600 consumer headset. Luna 360, a consumer-friendly camera about the size of a pool ball, made its debut at the show ahead of a planned release later this year.

"This year is really the first year consumers have access to this," DJ Roller, founder of NExtVR, told ABC News last week. "Virtual reality is a whole other medium, as different as radio was to television."

Smarter Drones and Autonomous Vehicles

Intel showed off a fleet of drones that use the company's RealSense technology, which enables them to map an environment in real-time and react to it. Intel included the technology in Segway's Advanced Personal Robots. A race car driving experience using RealSense showed movements on the screen.

Chipmaker NVIDIA showed off another super-powered computer called the Drive PX2, which is designed to be the brain inside of self-driving cars. The car is about the size of a lunch box, the computer can process 8 teraflops, which by comparison, the company said is the equivalent strength of 150 MacBook Pro computers.

"When it comes to drones and autonomous vehicles, you are finally seeing solutions out there that aren’t perfect but are solving the biggest issues that are out there without needing a supercomputer. To make something autonomous it needs to be able to see, perceive and act," Patrick Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, told ABC News.