CES is always packed with robots, and this year the electronics giant LG announced a new one called CLOiD. The company claims this AI-powered home robot will revolutionize household chores, meaning you might not have to do them anymore. It is designed to assist with a wide variety of domestic tasks, from folding laundry and making breakfast to patrolling a home for signs of trouble. LG envisions the device eventually evolving into an ambient-care agent that supports everyday life.
The bot was announced during LG’s keynote earlier this week and was available for inspection in rolling presentations on the convention floor. I went to see one, where the robot, alongside a human presenter, performed tasks for an audience.
CLOiD has autonomous movement to navigate on its own. It comes equipped with cameras and sensors that, when paired with LG’s smart home ThinQ app, can use situational and environmental data to make proactive suggestions for improving the user’s life. The bot also has speakers for communication. LG states that CLOiD runs on a vision language model that converts images and video into structured, language-based understanding, and a vision language action program that can turn verbal commands into actions.
The last few years have seen several domestic robots introduced, like Amazon’s Astro and Enabot’s EBO X. CLOiD follows in their footsteps but seems designed for a broader array of tasks. Unlike those more squat, rolling automatons, CLOiD has a large upper body and two arms, a physical design clearly meant for lifting objects and interacting with the environment.
You might expect that to lead to impressive results. Unfortunately, at the presentation I saw, CLOiD did not do a whole lot. I watched the bot very gingerly take a shirt from 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. The live demonstration was intercut with highly produced videos showing the bot in various hypothetical useful scenarios.
CLOiD was cute and seemed affable, but the most noticeable thing was how slow it is. During the presentation, when asked to make breakfast, the robot trundled to the refrigerator, waited for the door to open, and stared inside for an uncomfortably long time before finally selecting milk. Even the most lethargic human would likely win a race against CLOiD.
However, speed is not really the issue. The idea is to ensure the human companion does not have to do any work. This is part of what LG calls its “Zero Labor Home” model, where automation handles all those boring but essential domestic chores. You could be brushing your teeth or taking a call while the bot preps pancakes in the next room. That is the idea, at least.
From the presentation, it is a little unclear when that idea will become a reality. I could not find out if or when the bot will be available to the public. A disclaimer on the presentation videos stated that the products and solutions shown are under development and not released for commercial use, so specifications may vary. An on-site LG communications staffer told me CLOiD would be available in the future but did not know when.
Thus, like many robots on display at CES, CLOiD felt more like an advertisement for its company’s potential than an accurate representation of its current offerings. The bot also seemed well positioned to help market LG’s new AI home ecosystem, which includes a broader array of impressive smart home products that seem like easier sells for consumers than a new robot.
I got a brief tour of some of those latest products. In addition to the return of the ultra-thin LG Wallpaper TV, the company displayed various appliances this week, including an AI-powered oven that can identify ingredients and recommend recipes, and an AI refrigerator you can talk to. All these devices are supposed to sync with CLOiD and are controllable via the company’s ThinQ app.