LG Electronics sells more guide robots to Japanese shopping mall

LG Electronics' guide robot at an Aeon store in Japan, on Oct. 7. Courtesy of LG Electronics

By Kim Jae-heun

LG Electronics is stepping up its guide robot business expansion overseas by supplying those products to Japan's largest shopping mall, Aeon, the Korean company said Sunday.

The multinational electronics company recently supplied two “LG CLOi GuideBot” to an Aeon store in Toki, Gifu Prefecture. Last month, it also sold guide robots to Aeon mall at Narita International Airport.

Japan is a representative industrial robot powerhouse along with the United States and Germany. The autonomous robot market has grown rapidly with the recent increase in demand for contactless services and many newcomers in the business are competing fiercely to introduce their products. LG Electronics' consecutive supply of its guide robots to Japan shows its product is well-recognized in the global market for its capabilities.

“The company is expanding its supply of CLOi GuideBot optimized for contactless services, not only in Korea, but also abroad. We will provide new experiences with robots and their value to our customers both in and outside of the country,” a LG Electronics official said.

LG Electronics started its overseas business with autonomous robots in May, when it began supplying the CLOi GuideBot to large discount stores and restaurants in the United States and Japan. It also started pilot operations of a quarantine-customized robot called CLOi UV-C at a hospital in Karatsu, Japan.

LG CLOi GuideBot has a variety of functions prioritizing customers' safety. Its artificial intelligence-based autonomous driving system allows the machine to travel indoors by avoiding obstacles and providing necessary information to visitors. The robot's sensors attached on the top and bottom of its body change its travel route when encountering people in a building.

The machine also supports multilingual guidance in English, Japanese and Chinese based on its natural language-processing technology that converts human voices to its own language.