LAS VEGAS – LG Electronics really wants your fridge to become the hub of your smart home and its newest flagship Smart InstaView model now features Amazon’s Alexa Voice Service which is powered by LG’s own webOS smart platform.
LG is also using the Alexa service to power its first hub robot that will compete with Amazon’s Echo and Google Home. The AI device connects IoT devices within the home and users can communicate with the robot to complete specific tasks.
“Our newest innovation will allow users to enjoy their kitchens like never before with new abilities to ‘speak’ to the fridge, control the home’s connected devices and connect with the family in a new way,” said Song Dae-Hyun, president of LG’s and Home Appliance & Air Solutions Company in a news release.
LG’s new flagship Door-in-Door refrigerator features a 29-inch touch LCD display that instantly turns transparent with two knocks of the screen and allows users to look inside the refrigerator without opening the door. Now with webOS, users enable host of WiFi-enabled features directly on the refrigerator, to create what LG calls a “streamlined and powerful food management system” all housed directly on the front of the fridge door.
With Alexa the LG fridge can search for recipes, play music, add items to a shopping list and place Prime-eligible orders from Amazon.com including groceries. With over 6,000 skills available, users can use voice commands to have Alexa request car service, set kitchen timers and check the weather.
The fridge also features a Smart Tag menu that lets users add stickers and tags on the screen to indicate which foods are stored as well as the ability to input the expiration date of each item, so the refrigerator can issue reminders when foods near expiration. You can even remotely check the inside of the fridge with your smart phone by linking it to the fridge’s 2.0 megapixel panoramic super-wide-lens camera.
(Still, we don’t really know how many, if any, consumers want to speak to their fridges or create running databases of the contents of their refrigerators.)
The Hub Robot is equipped with an interactive display that can display a wide variety of information such as images of contents inside of the refrigerator and recipes, complete with step-by-step audio instructions. Like the Echo, the Hub Robot also has the ability to play music, set alarms, create reminder memos and provide weather and traffic updates.
LG says the Hub Robot works best when placed in common areas of the house where family members tend to gather, such as the kitchen or the living room. The Hub Robot, can be complemented with mini robots that can be placed in other rooms in the house, which also have displays.
LG is also leveraging IoT and smart technology outside of the home with an Airport Guide Robot and cleaning robot, 
designed for use in airports and other public spaces. It also will be offering a lawn mowing robot (hopefully in time for the summer).
The Airport Guide Robot (which will soon find a home in Seoul’s Incheon International Airport) is an “intelligent information assistant” for travelers, and can answer questions in four languages: English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. With a scan of a passenger’s ticket, the robot can provide detailed information about a flight’s boarding time and gate location, and even the weather of a traveler’s destination city.
Consumer electronics editor John Bugailiskis is in Las Vegas this week covering CES for Cartt.ca.
