LG Electronics new self learning AI ‘Hub Robot’ that uses Amazon’s Alexa to communicate with other household smart devices and also recognizes each member of a family

LG Electronics has unveiled its new Hub Robot that uses Amazon’s Alexa to communicate with other household smart devices.

LG’s Hub Robot can do things like turn on the air conditioning and delay the start of your washing machine with a simple voice command.

By leveraging powerful analytical processing power, LG’s robotic lineup will be able to navigate complex environments and decipher the most efficient and effective path to accomplish tasks, making people’s lives easier at every touch-point.

Innovating beyond LG technologies already found in the LG HOM-BOT automated vacuum cleaner, LG’s first non-cleaning robots are equipped with AI technologies enabling them to be employed in the home, in tandem with other smart appliances, outdoors, as well as in public spaces:

  • LG’s “Hub Robot” designed for home use will double as a smart home gateway and a personal assistant for consumers.
  • Another robot previewed at CES 2017 was new capabilities for tending to one’s yard and garden.
  • LG’s robot lineup will also include models designed for commercial use in public spaces such as airports and hotels to help improve the traveler’s experience.

Powered by Amazon’s Alexa voice recognition technology, the Hub Robot can respond to commands to do things like turn on the air conditioner or the lights. It features an interactive display that can offer up information and images, and with a built-in speaker, it can play music, set alarms, provide weather updates, and more.

The Hub Robot is more interactive than competing products from Amazon and Google, with the ability to move, swivel in place, and express a range of emotions by displaying a face on its built-in screen.

It is able to respond to customers using body language, such as nodding its head when it is asked a question, and it keeps track of in-home activity, monitoring when family members come and go. With facial recognition capabilities, it recognizes each member of a family and provides customized greetings and information.

LG says the Hub Robot is designed to be put in a place where the family gathers, such as a kitchen or a living room, and additional mini robots will be introduced alongside the Hub Robot that can go in other rooms of the house.

The new Lawn Mowing Robot brings its vacuum-cleaner like capabilities now outside. Mowing the law, and hating the chore, is a rite of passage for many children. LG may have eliminated the need with its new device, which builds on its existing vacuum cleaner robot, the HOM-BOT, with sensors that can read the lawn and move around obstacles.