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LG Acquires Majority Stake of AI-Powered Robotics Startup

LG is acquiring a majority stake in Bear Robotics, a robotics startup specializing in AI-driven autonomous service robots, and plans to expand its presence in the commercial robot market and reinforce its home robotics business.

The move will include integrating the company’s LG CLOi service robots with Bear Robotics. The key management team of Bear Robotics, including CEO John Ha, will remain in place to ensure stable business continuity and will continue to focus on creating synergies in LG’s commercial robot business, according to LG.

LG previously owned 21% of the Bear Robotics after an Initial investment of $60 million in March 2024, and now controls 51% of the company after acquiring an additional 30%.

According to LG’s announcement, Bear Robotics, founded in 2017, produces AI-powered indoor delivery robotics in the U.S., South Korea and Japan. The company is known for its distributed multi-robot control, remote fleet management, and AI-powered platform.

LG’s Home Robotics Aspirations

In addition to the commercial robot market, LG plans to leverage Bear Robotics’ AI and manufacturing expertise to reinforce its home and industrial robot segments.

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For the residential market, LG’s robotics initiative will be spearheaded by the LG Home Appliance Solution Company, which will focus on delivering a holistic experience where home robots, powered by what LG calls its “Affectionate Intelligence” technology, can discern the well-being of home owners and integrate with home appliances and services.

The move also comes as LG prepares to launch its self-driving AI Home Hub later this year. Codenamed Q9 for now, LG says the device “features multimodal sensing capabilities, encompassing voice, sound and image recognition, coupled with autonomous driving technology.”

The robot can navigate the home autonomously, identify users’ status and respond to their needs by connecting and controlling home appliances and IoT devices, the company says.

In addition, the robot uses voice recognition and synthesis technology from Microsoft, which is notable as LG is beginning to integrate Microsoft’s AI platform Copilot into its smart TVs. LG is also introducing a software development kit for the Q9 to invite developers to integrate other systems.

“This additional investment underscores our dedication to positioning robots as a pivotal growth engine for the company, reflecting our belief in their inevitable role in the future,” said LG Electronics Chief Strategy Officer Sam-soo Lee, in a statement. “We will persist in driving innovation across all sectors of robotics, encompassing commercial, industrial and home applications.”

LG’s news comes after CES, where main competitor Samsung announced that its intelligent rolling robot, Ballie, will also launch this year, according to CNET.

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