LG Electronics and Nvidia are accelerating cooperation on physical AI centered on the Humanoid Robot. After the two companies' top executives agreed on strategic cooperation in the United States, a key figure in Nvidia's Robotics business is coming to Korea.
According to related industries on the 17th, Madison Huang, senior director of Omniverse and Robotics product marketing at Nvidia, will visit LG Electronics' Yangjae research and development (R&D) campus in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the 18th.
Huang is said to plan a private discussion with senior LG Electronics officials on cooperation in Robotics after inspecting the "data factory" being built on site. The eldest daughter of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, she joined Nvidia in 2020 and leads product marketing to expand the physical AI ecosystem.
A data factory is a facility that collects robots' movement and task data in environments similar to homes or factories. As it helps a humanoid learn the behaviors needed in real-world spaces, it is considered a key foundation for advancing robot intelligence.
The visit comes five days after LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and CEO Jensen Huang signed a strategic business cooperation memorandum of understanding at Nvidia's headquarters in California on the 13th. Under the agreement, LG Electronics is developing a bipedal humanoid using Nvidia technology, aiming for a public unveiling in the first quarter of next year.
The robot is expected to be equipped with Nvidia's Robotics computing module "Jetson Thor." The humanoid foundation model "Isaac GROOT" and the robot safety system "Helios for Robotics" will also be used in development.
The industry is watching the possibility that this cooperation will expand beyond simple parts supply to a model that links AI models for robots, computing devices, training data, and actual products together. LG Electronics can use its accumulated space and device data from home appliances, smart homes, and factory automation for robot development. Nvidia is expected to supply semiconductors and a simulation platform to help shorten development time. There is also interest in whether the two companies will broaden the scope of cooperation through to the commercialization stage for household and industrial robots.
Huang discussed cooperation in physical AI with LG Electronics CEO Lyu Jae-cheol at LG Twin Towers in Seoul in April and accompanied CEO Jensen Huang's visit to Korea in June. With the back-to-back high-level exchanges, some say LG is moving to secure business leadership in the physical AI market, represented by humanoids.