Baek Byung-yeul is a journalist at The Korea Times focused on cultural content, including films and cultural events in South Korea. You can contact him at baekby@koreatimes.co.kr to share your insights.
LG accelerates robot expansion with $60 mil. investment in US firm
LG Electronics’ CarryBot robots used in the logistics industry. The company said Tuesday that it invested $60 million in the U.S. robotics company Bear Robotics. Courtesy of LG Electronics
By Baek Byung-yeul
LG Electronics has invested $60 million in Bear Robotics, a U.S.-based AI autonomous service robot company, the Korean tech firm said Tuesday.
LG said it signed a new stock purchase agreement to acquire shares of Bear Robotics to boost its commercial robotics capabilities. Upon completion of the stock purchase, the company will become the largest shareholder of the U.S. robotics company on a single-shareholder basis.
Bear Robotics CEO John Ha, who founded the company in 2017, is a former Google software engineer. The company is known for commercial robot platforming technologies, swarm control technology for multiple robots and cloud computing-based control solutions.
Currently, the U.S. robotics company provides its AI-based autonomous indoor delivery robot services in Korea, the U.S. and Japan.
LG expects the strategic investment in Bear Robotics to quickly enhance its robot business capabilities.
"LG Electronics views the commercial robot paradigm as shifting towards AI-based software-centric robots, so it decided on this investment to speed up the advancement of its commercial robot business," the company said.
LG has been pursuing robotics for several years. It plans to create synergy by combining its own capabilities with Bear Robotics' software platform capabilities, as the global service robot market is expected to grow from $36.2 billion in 2021 to $103.3 billion by 2026.
"As the service robot market enters a period of growth, this equity investment will significantly contribute to securing a 'winning competitive edge' for the company," said Lee Sam-soo, chief strategy officer of LG Electronics. "From a medium- to long-term perspective, we will seek to develop our robot business into a new growth engine, exploring various opportunities through the integration of cutting-edge technologies such as embodied AI and robotic manipulation."