LG invests 78 million euros in robot start-ups

LG has invested 78 million euros in robotics start-ups. The investment is part of LG’s ThinQ AI strategy and the company promises more investments to follow.

The investments were made in the four Korean start-up companies Acryl, SG Robotics, Robotis and Robostar and in the American company Bossa Nova Robotics. The latter company makes robots that drive along the shelves of stores to check stocks. Walmart, among others, has been testing the robots since last year.

Acryl focuses on developing artificial intelligence that can derive human emotions from text, speech and images. SG Robotics is developing ‘wearable robots’, more like exoskeletons, for spinal cord injury patients and Robotis focuses on education with robots. Finally, Robostar makes robots for the industrial market such as the semiconductor industry.

LG hopes that robots will be a growth market in the near future and is already developing products for this, such as a guide and cleaning robot that are used at South Korea’s largest airport. In recent years, LG has presented new robots at CES in Las Vegas, such as the CLOi models for hotels and shops at the beginning of this year.