Jang Ik-hwan, left, head of LG Electronics Business Solutions division, poses with Song Jae-ho, senior executive vice president of KT's AI/DX Convergence Business Group after signing a partnership for robot business at LG Science Park in Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of LG Electronics

By Baek Byung-yeul

LG Electronics and KT have forged a partnership to expand into the fast-growing AI service robot business, they said Wednesday.

Among their various robot-related businesses, the tech company and the telecommunications company will work together on robots, which are to be used in industries such as logistics, education and health care.

The two held a signing ceremony at LG Science Park in southwestern Seoul where LG Group's R&D units are located.

"The two companies plan to combine robot manufacturing and service capabilities to discover new business opportunities; establish a cooperative system for R&D of next-generation robots; establish a platform to strengthen the competitiveness of the domestic service robot industry and cooperate on robot development tasks, which the government is pursuing," they said in a statement.

LG has core technologies related to the robotics business including autonomous driving, sensors, artificial intelligence (AI) and cameras. The company expects it can create synergistic effects by combining KT's network technology and LG's robot business operational know-how.

Seen are LG Electronics' CLOi robots. The company said Wednesday that it joined hands with local telecommunications company KT to expand into the AI service robot business. Courtesy of LG Electronics

Since the company began test operations of its CLOi guidance robot at Incheon International Airport in 2017, the company has launched various kinds of service robots such as the CLOi BaristaBot and the CLOi ChefBot, a logistics robot and delivery robot respectively.

Starting with the AI Hotel Robot, which was first introduced in 2019, KT also has commercialized its robots in various sectors such as food and beverage delivery robots, AI care robots for seniors, quarantine robots and self-driving outdoor delivery robots.

"Through this collaboration, we expect more customers to experience LG Electronics' customized robot solutions optimized for various spaces," Jang Ik-hwan, head of LG Electronics Business Solutions division, said.

Song Jae-ho, senior executive vice president of KT's AI/DX Convergence Business Group, said he expects the partnership between the two companies "will make customers' daily lives more comfortable and help the domestic robot industry take a leap forward."