LG to showcase Google AI-enabled home robots in June

LG Electronics Inc., South Korea’s top home appliances maker, will unveil home robots featuring Google’s generative artificial intelligence model GeminiAI in June, marking their first partnership to develop robots.

Their collaboration is expected to accelerate LG’s push into the world’s household robot market, as well as in the extended reality (XR) area, with a focus on products with more responsive and personalized AI features.

In February, LG agreed to jointly develop an XR headset that could beat Apple Inc.’s latest mixed reality (MR) headset Vision Pro. They plan to launch it in the first quarter of next year.

On June 27, it will showcase its smart home AI agent CLOi with the capabilities of Google’s GeminiAI at Google Cloud Summit Seoul 2024, according to industry sources on Tuesday.

The two companies were said to have teamed up to develop the product since last year. It will hit the market in 2025.

Google hosted its first cloud summit in South Korea last year, to which it invited a handful of partner companies to unveil products featuring its AI technologies.

GeminiAI is an AI chatbot Google released at the end of last year to match OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

The AI tool helps the home robot to learn lifestyle habits through conversations with users. Thus, the robot is expected to come up with answers that fit each situation, even if users enter ambiguous commands.

LG defines AI as empathetic intelligence for customers and has released products equipped with AI technologies, including the OLED TV model unveiled in March.

The latest CLOi model demonstrates LG Electronics' empathic intelligence technology as it serves as an all-around home manager offering more responsive and personalized AI solutions.

When the user returns home, the robot CLOi greets them at the door, discerns their emotions by analyzing their voice and facial expression, and selects music or other content to suit their mood.

It also provides transportation details, weather updates, personal scheduling functions and reminders to take medication.

Its collaborations with Google and Meta underline LG's move to transform into a platform company, utilizing about 700 million units of its products sold in the world.

Last month, Cho Joo-wan, chief executive of LG Electronics, met with Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft Corp. 

Industry observers speculated that the two companies had discussed developing home appliance products featuring Microsoft's generative AI technologies.

"Software companies need a medium to implement and train their AI technologies," said an IT company official. "LG Electronics is playing a role as a platform."

According to SkyQuest Technology Consulting, the global service robot market is expected to triple to 107.8 trillion won ($79 billion) by 2031 versus the estimated 31.5 trillion won this year.

"In the past, we asked Big Tech to buy our products, but now we can talk with them as equal strategic partners," Cho said at a press conference in the US on May 11.

Write to Eui-Myung Park at uimyung@hankyung.com

Yeonhee Kim edited this article