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| A visitor tries out Samsung Electronics' GEMS Hip wearable robot during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in this January 2020 file photo. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics |
By Baek Byung-yeul
Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are trying to capitalize on the growing commercial robot market as they plan to release new products and increase the applications of their robots. Industry officials and experts said Tuesday that their expansion into robotics has been facilitated by the development of artificial intelligence technology.
LG has been expanding application cases of its CLOi service robots, providing its docent robot, delivery robot, lawn mowing robot and coffee brewing robot to various business-to-business (B2B) clients such as airports, shopping malls, schools and libraries in different countries including Korea, Japan and the United States.
While LG focuses on service robots, Samsung looks to concentrate on healthcare robots such as a wearable robot that helps the wearer to walk. The tech giant has been working on developing robot products for years since it first unveiled its exoskeleton-assisted wearable robot called GEMS at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), and the company said it will officially launch more robots at this year's CES.
"We plan to release a human assistant robot called EX1 within this year," Han Jong-hee, vice chairman of Samsung, said during a press conference held on the sidelines of the CES last month. "We will focus on senior care, exercise and various robot businesses based on that (EX1)."
Samsung's willingness to foster robots as its next growth engine can also be seen from its investment in a domestic robotics company last month.
In January, Rainbow Robotics said in a regulatory filing that it issued 1.94 million new shares worth 58.9 billion won to Samsung Electronics. With the acquisition, Samsung became its second-largest shareholder.
"Think of it as nothing significant and only acquiring shares," Han said regarding the acquisition, but added, "The new growth engine of the company is the robot business."
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| Children search for books by voice using LG Electronics' CLOi robot at a library in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, Jan. 19. Courtesy of LG Electronics |
The robot industry can be divided into industrial and service purposes. Over the past few decades, industrial robots have been in the spotlight as they help save manufacturing costs, improve productivity and decrease potential safety risks.
However, robots for service purposes are now emerging due to the decreasing birthrate and aging population. According to data from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), the size of the global service robot market stood at $11.1 billion as of 2020, accounting for 43.5 percent of the entire robotics market.
Seo Yong-ho, a professor of Mokwon University's Department of Robotics, said not only Samsung and LG but also global tech companies such as Tesla are rushing to the robotics business thanks to advanced AI technology.
"Expectations for service robots were there even 20 years ago. However, it seems that companies think they will be able to achieve more tangible results with service robots now thanks to advances in AI technology," the professor said.
"Industrial robots only have to do their jobs as they are programmed, but in order to be used as a means of assisting people, service robots must be able to interact with humans. Companies seem to be predicting that AI technology can solve this part. That's why not only Korean companies but also global companies like Tesla are entering the robot business."
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