Samsung Electronics has secured technology that enables users and robots to communicate smoothly. It is also seen to have made progress in research on structures that allow robots to move like people. Samsung Electronics said on Jan. that it would deliver results in the humanoid business this year as part of preparations for the future.
At CES 2026, humanoids, robots shaped like people, were in the spotlight. Unlike other corporations, Samsung Electronics did not unveil related devices, drawing market concerns over a "lack of technological prowess." In response, Samsung Electronics released a roadmap to first build capabilities in manufacturing and then expand into consumer-facing (B2C) areas such as home robots. This strategy appears to be moving forward step by step recently.
According to the Korean Intellectual Property Office's Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service (KIPRIS) on the 18th, Samsung Electronics has filed and disclosed 10,347 robot-related patents (excluding rejections, invalidations, withdrawals, and abandonments). Among them, 46 are directly related to humanoids.
The robot technology patents secured by Samsung Electronics span a wide range of fields, including operation methods, components, software, voice recognition, autonomous driving, and wearables. Products such as robot vacuum cleaners released to market and robots applied in production plants were developed based on these patents.
Recently, patent applications for technologies related to humanoids and service robots appear to be active. A representative example is a patent disclosed on the on "a robot that prevents interruption (intervention by a third party) during interaction with a user." This patent indicates rights to technology applicable to guide robots in public places and service robots in spaces with multiple people.
The robot featured in the patent identifies, via camera, the user it is currently interacting with, and if another person intervenes by touch, voice, approach, or blocking, it recognizes this as an interruption and responds. When an interruption occurs, the robot does not execute the intruder's command; instead, it keeps looking toward the original user or is set to move closer. If needed, it can send guidance such as "currently in use by another user" to the intruder via screen or voice. Service robots on the market sometimes hand over control when someone else cuts in, causing operations to stop before completion; this technology prevents that.
A patent disclosed in Nov. last year for a "hip joint of a humanoid robot" is another good example. It contains technology that allows a humanoid robot's legs to move like a person's. It shows how to arrange three actuators in the humanoid hip joint so the design mimics human motion. Actuators are modules that combine ▲ a motor that generates torque ▲ a driver that controls electrical signals ▲ a reducer that adjusts speed, and serve as parts that play the role of "robot joints."
Even with such technological prowess, Samsung Electronics did not separately unveil a humanoid at CES 2026. However, Roh Tae-Moon, president of Samsung Electronics, said, "Robotics is an important future growth engine," adding, "We are developing foundational technologies and physical AI engines to strengthen competitiveness in collaboration with Rainbow Robotics, which we acquired last year, and we are reviewing various investments." He added, "We plan to first build hardware and software capabilities in robotics for automating internal manufacturing sites, then expand into B2C and business-to-business (B2B)."
Earlier this month, Samsung Electronics announced a strategy to "convert domestic and overseas production plants into AI autonomous factories by 2030." The idea is to sequentially realize the strategy Roh released. The aim is to improve quality and productivity by applying AI to every manufacturing process. In doing so, it said it is also pushing step by step to introduce humanoid-type manufacturing robots to move beyond automation to autonomy. It plans to combine ▲ Operating Bots that manage production lines and equipment ▲ Logistics Bots responsible for material transport ▲ Assembly Bots that carry out assembly processes with AI to realize an optimized manufacturing site.
Samsung Electronics is also reported to have recently created a "Hand Lab" within its Future Robotics Promotion Team. The more dexterous robot hands become, the more the utility of humanoids rises sharply. However, due to the high development difficulty, it is considered a key challenge for commercialization. Samsung Electronics is said to have set a strategy to solve these problems through the Hand Lab and build capabilities to deploy robots on manufacturing floors. An industry official said, "Samsung Electronics is accelerating a strategy to strengthen its technological prowess to dispel market concerns about a lack of robot technology."