CES is always chock-full of robots, and this year electronics giant LG announced a new bot, dubbed CLOi, that it claims will revolutionize household chores. The idea is that you won’t have to do them anymore.
CLOi is described as an AI-powered home robot, designed to assist its user with a wide variety of domestic tasks. These tasks range from folding laundry to making breakfast and even patrolling a home for signs of trouble. The company says that eventually, it envisions the device evolving into an ambient-care agent that supports everyday life.
The bot was announced during LG’s keynote earlier this week, and it was available for inspection via rolling presentations on the convention floor. I went to check one out, where I saw the bot, alongside a human presenter, performing a variety of tasks for an enthusiastic audience.
CLOi has autonomous movement, so it can get around by itself. It comes equipped with a variety of cameras and sensors that, when paired with LG’s smart home ThinQ app, can leverage situational and environmental data to make proactive suggestions for how to make its user’s life better. The bot also has speakers so it can communicate with its user. LG says that CLOi runs off a vision language model that converts images and video into structured, language-based understanding and a vision language action program that can convert verbal commands into action.
The last few years have seen the introduction of a number of domestic robots. CLOi follows in their footsteps but seems designed for a broader array of domestic tasks than its predecessors. Unlike some other robots which are little more than squat, rolling automatons, CLOi has a large upper body and two arms. This physicality is clearly designed to lift stuff and interact with its environment.
You’d think that would lead to some impressive results. Unfortunately, at the presentation I saw, CLOi didn’t do a whole lot. I saw the bot very gingerly take a shirt out of a basket and place it into a dryer. I also saw it pick up a croissant and, again very gingerly, place it into an oven. In addition to the live performance from the bot, the presentation was intercut with highly produced videos of the bot in a number of hypothetical scenarios where it might prove useful to potential users.
CLOi was cute and seemed affable enough, but the biggest thing you notice is how slow it is. During Tuesday’s presentation, when his human counterpart asked CLOi to make him some breakfast, the robot trundled over to the refrigerator, waited for the automatic door to open, and then stared into the fridge’s depths for an uncomfortably long period of time before ultimately selecting milk.
Yes, even the most lethargic human would likely win in a race against CLOi. However, speed isn’t really the issue here. The idea is to make sure that the bot’s human companion doesn’t have to do any work at all. It’s part of what LG refers to as its “Zero Labor Home” model, where automation takes care of all of those boring but essential domestic chores. You can be off brushing your teeth or answering a call from your boss while the bot is in the next room, prepping pancakes. That’s the idea, at least.
From the available presentation, it’s a little unclear when that idea will become a reality. I was unable to find out if and when the bot would actually be available to the public. A disclaimer at the bottom of the presentation’s videos read that products and solutions shown are under development and have not been released for commercial use, so specifications may vary.
An on-site LG communications staffer told me that CLOi would be available in the future, but she didn’t know when. I reached out to LG’s Home Solutions team for more information.
Thus, like a lot of other robots on display at CES, CLOi felt a little more like an ad for its company’s potential than an accurate representation of what it is currently offering. The bot also seemed well positioned to help market LG’s new AI home ecosystem, which represents a broader array of impressive smart home products. The bulk of these products seem like easier lifts for consumers than a new robot in their home.
I got a brief tour of some of the latest editions of those products. In addition to the return of the LG Wallpaper TV, the company had a variety of appliances on display this week. These included an AI-powered oven that can identify particular ingredients and recommend recipes for you, and an AI refrigerator that you can talk to. All of these devices are supposed to sync with CLOi and are controllable via the company’s ThinQ app.