LG is poised to shake up the home robotics game. The company just launched CLOiD, a new home robot designed to handle tasks no one wants to do, and it’s a significant departure from what we’ve seen before from the Korean electronics giant. With two articulated arms, individually actuated fingers, and AI designed to understand your needs, this thing looks like it could actually do something useful around the house when it debuts at CES in January.
Here’s what we know so far: LG is ready to show off CLOiD, and based on the teaser images and specs, this robot is truly different from the company’s latest attempt at home automation. Or LG’s old home robot Coming with a two-wheeled base and a handle that protrudes from its head, CLOiD actually has arms that can grab objects.
The real technical story here is in these arms. LG says they are equipped with motors that give the robot seven degrees of freedomthat is, robotics talks about the ability to move in multiple directions like a human arm would. Each hand has five individually actuated fingers, meaning the robot can theoretically grasp and manipulate objects with the kind of dexterity that actually matters for real-world household chores. One of the teaser images appears to show CLOiD grabbing a towel, which might seem simple until you realize that most home robots can’t do it yet.
Beyond the physical design, LG has packed CLOiD with a decent amount of intelligence. Inside the robot’s head is a dedicated chipset running voice interaction, navigation sensors, a camera, a speaker and a display for what the company calls “expressive communication.” This last part is important because it hints at LG’s goal to make the robot feel less like a tool and more like a household assistant. The company is working on something called “Caring Intelligence,” which LG previously described as an AI designed to “better understand and empathize with customers”. It’s marketing, of course, but it shows LG’s thinking about how the robot interacts with people, not just what it can do physically.
This is a significant pivot for LG in the home robotics space. The company has been interested in this category for years, but nothing has really succeeded commercially. Last year’s two-wheeled model, which a critic described as “pretty cute and pretty useless”, showed that LG understood the opportunity but wasn’t ready to deliver the features consumers actually need. CLOiD appears to be a step toward closing this gap.
