What Will Samsung's First Robot Look Like?

Han Jong-hee "Launching Senior Care Specialized Robot 'EX1' Within the Year"
Filed 10 Patents Related to Mobility Assistance Devices Last Year
Also Invested in Rainbow Robotics Shares

At 'CES 2020,' a visitor is experiencing Samsung Electronics' wearable walking assist robot 'GEMS Hip.' [Photo by Samsung Electronics]

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Yeju] As major domestic companies identify robots as one of their future growth engines, Samsung Electronics has also begun to actively enter the robot business. Following its decision to invest in Rainbow Robotics, a KOSDAQ-listed robot manufacturer, Samsung has accelerated commercialization by revealing plans to launch a robot within the year. Industry attention is focused on what Samsung’s 'first robot' will look like.

At CES 2023, the world’s largest IT and home appliance exhibition held recently in Las Vegas, USA, Han Jong-hee, Vice Chairman and Head of Samsung Electronics’ Device eXperience (DX) Division, announced that the company will release a robot named 'EX1' within this year.

Vice Chairman Han mentioned that the EX1 is a 'senior care' specialized robot equipped with functions to assist elderly exercise. Considering that Samsung’s filed patents involve technology that supports parts of the user’s body to aid movement, it is anticipated that an EX1 version of the walking-assist robot 'GEMS', which is worn on the hip, knee, ankle, and other joints, will be launched.

Samsung Electronics filed 10 patents related to 'exercise assistance devices' with the Korean Intellectual Property Office last year. The most recent patent, titled 'Exercise Assistance Device and Method for Controlling the Same,' was submitted on December 21, last year, and is currently approved by the patent office.

Samsung Electronics has previously unveiled prototypes such as the care robot 'Samsung Bot Care,' air-purifying robot 'Samsung Bot Air,' guide robot 'Samsung Bot Retail,' driving-assist robot 'GEMS,' and 'Bolly,' which monitors children, the elderly, and pets. However, this is the first time Samsung has officially confirmed commercialization by mentioning a specific robot launch schedule.

Robots are a field that Samsung Electronics has designated as a new growth engine and is investing heavily in. In August 2021, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong announced plans to invest 240 trillion KRW over the next three years in robotics and AI. Earlier last year, the company upgraded its robot commercialization task force (TF) to a robot business team and has been actively pursuing the business since. In the third quarter of last year, Samsung filed 69 robot-related patents, making it the company with the most robot patents filed worldwide during the same period.

The launch of EX1 is expected to mark the beginning of Samsung Electronics’ robot business entering a full-fledged trajectory. Samsung plans to advance various robot businesses centered around senior care with EX1.

Samsung’s recent decision to invest in Rainbow Robotics, a collaborative robot manufacturer, is also interpreted as part of this plan to secure technological competitiveness. Rainbow Robotics is recognized for its strong competitiveness in the collaborative robot sector through humanoid robot research and internalization of core robot components.

With Samsung’s entry, competition for leadership in the robot business is expected to intensify further. LG Electronics, a competitor in the home appliance business, has been operating its robot business since acquiring management rights of industrial robot manufacturer Robostar in 2018, the first year of Chairman Koo Kwang-mo’s tenure. LG launched the service robot 'CLOi' in 2018 and is strengthening its global market presence by supplying it domestically and internationally. LG Electronics’ Business Solutions (BS) Division also established a dedicated overseas sales organization under its robot business department at the end of last year. Hyundai Motor Group invested about 1 trillion KRW in 2020 to acquire an 80% stake in Boston Dynamics from Japan’s SoftBank Group. Boston Dynamics is a robot specialist company with world-class technology. HD Hyundai, Doosan, and Hanwha also possess industrial and collaborative robot technologies through subsidiaries such as Hyundai Robotics, Doosan Robotics, and Hanwha Momentum.

The robotics sector is expected to be more promising in the future than it is now. The Korea Eximbank Overseas Economic Research Institute estimates that the global robot industry will grow at an average annual rate of 20%, expanding from approximately 25 billion USD (about 32 trillion KRW) in 2020 to 160 billion USD (about 199 trillion KRW) by 2030.