Samsung Electronics is looking to bring a number of household robots that will help with everything from everyday chores to helping the elderly or injured walk.
The company has registered the brand ‘Samsung Bot’ in the US and Canada, according to World Intellectual Property Organisation, which suggests it is making big moves.
Of the robot helpers that the company has developed are GEMS (pictured below), a “walking assist wearable robot” which was first introduced at CES 2019, as a “next-generation healthcare device to help those with weakened leg muscles – such as people recovering from injuries – enhance their physical performance.”
At last year’s CES, the company introduced the world to the Samsung Bot Handy, which it touted as “your first housework robot”.
The Samsung Bot Handy is “mobile and recognises objects in the house and can help out on a variety of household chores,” Samsung explains.
This year, they have developed the bot to be even more handy, with what it calls “tableware handling”.
This technology enables the robot to pick items up “after recognising multiple objects and analysing the surrounding environment.”
The company explains: “With this upgraded technology, the Samsung Bot Handy can help you spend less time in your household chores with practical use cases enabled by three key features: Dexterous Manipulation through robot arm/hand and control, General Object Handling using a combination of AI and grasping, and Extended Workspace in 3D space through mobility and elevation.
“By securing more advanced manipulation technology this year, it can recognise various things with different shapes and in different positions. Even if something is transparent or slightly blocked, it’s able to grasp it without colliding with things around it.”
Last year, Samsung formed a “robot business team” (made up of humans working on robots, not the dystopian, tie-wearing robot workforce it sounds like) to work on the products, and at this year’s CES, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Han Jong-hee all-but-confirmed the company was planning to acquire a number of robotic companies, saying “We are looking at [targets] quite a lot, with a lot of possibilities in both parts and finished products.”
The tagline for Samsung Bot is ‘Touching Our Daily Lives’.
“Our goal is to push ourselves to innovate to make a positive impact on the world, and we believe that the users of our robots will be able to take advantage of their various AI technologies, giving them special services as if someone was close by all the time,” the company explains.
“So, it is envisioned as ‘Samsung Bot, Touching Our Daily Lives’ – companion robots which make our lives more convenient and happier, by helping our physical activities or communicating with us through cognitive interactions.”
The future is here, and it can help clear the table.
