LG’s wheeled robot moves around the home to aid comfort and security.
The device will be officially unveiled next month at CES in Las Vegas. For now, it's simply being referred to as "LG’s smart home AI agent."
The bot self-balances on two motorised wheels as it autonomously rolls across floors and carpets. It perceives its environment via both optical and depth-sensing cameras.
Combined with Qualcomm's Robotics RB5 Platform, these cameras allow the bot to identify human faces, pets and various household objects. Utilising other onboard sensors, it can also monitor environmental data such as temperature, humidity and indoor air quality. If any of these factors are outside of their desired levels, the agent can wirelessly adjust connected appliances like furnaces, air conditioners or humidifiers.
Users can additionally set the robot to patrol their dwelling when they're not home. As it does so, it keeps an eye on pets while also watching for unusual activity such as break-ins. It additionally notices windows that have been left open, and lights that have been left on.
When it detects any such problems, the device sends a notification to the user's smartphone. In the case of lights that have accidentally been left on, the robot can connect itself to a "smart" wall outlet, from which it can turn the lights off. When the user gets home, the robot comes to the door to greet them.
The bot can also be utilised in a traditional Alexa-like fashion. Utilising voice recognition, natural language processing, a synthetic voice module and a speaker, it's capable of carrying on conversations with users regarding things like news, weather reports and daily schedules.