A few years ago, LG presented “CLOi” at the CES exhibition, which was supposed to be a home service robot, and the on-stage presentation was something between a disaster and an entertainment show—not only did the robot fail to respond to the host’s requests, it blatantly ignored him and even turned its back on him… But a few years have passed and it seems LG has learned its lessons, and now they are presenting CloiD (CLOi D?)—a robot that actually performs household tasks, first and foremost: Folding laundry, perhaps one of the most hated household chores.
CloiD is part of their vision of a “work-free home”: The new robot knows not only how to fold laundry, but also to assist with other small tasks—CloiD will be able to approach the refrigerator and bring milk, place a croissant in the oven, load dishes into the dishwasher, and most importantly, as mentioned, handle piles of clean laundry, including folding and arranging them into stacks of folded clothing. The focus, at least in the planned demonstration at the exhibition, is not only movement around the home but performing actions that require hands, grip, and precision.
The company is presenting the robot as part of a race that is rapidly becoming a category of its own: Assistive home robots, with laundry folding at the top of the pile—pardon the pun. This is not the first robot to promise to fold clothes, nor is it the only one appearing at this year’s CES exhibition: SwitchBot, a company specializing in home automation, is also presenting a similar robot.
What sets the CLOiD apart from others is the mechanics: Two articulated, human-like arms with seven degrees of freedom, mounted on a body capable of tilting and bending—a combination intended to help the robot reach different areas, grasp objects at various angles, and perform a more complex sequence of actions than a standard home robot. Its head resembles the design of previous LG robots, and it too responds with facial expressions.
What makes the difference this year with robots at the CES exhibition is the artificial intelligence that “upgrades” the promised capabilities. It’s likely that for now this is just a concept—but hey, who wouldn’t want a robot to fold their laundry for them?