LG CNS sees physical AI hitting factory floors within two years

LG CNS CEO Hyun Shin-gyoon (LG CNS)

LG CNS CEO Hyun Shin-gyoon said physical artificial intelligence is likely to be deployed commercially within two years, as robots move beyond experimental trials and begin operating on factory production lines.

At the CES 2026 tech show in Las Vegas, Hyun said robots are expected to be deployed in manufacturing environments within that time frame, marking a shift from proof-of-concept testing to actual industrial use.

"While we are already conducting PoC projects using robots in manufacturing settings, additional time is needed to prepare the broader environment," Hyun said, explaining the efforts needed to build a competitive mass-production system for robots.

Hyun said the core of LG CNS' physical AI business lies not in manufacturing robot hardware, but in embedding intelligence and training robots to perform effectively in real industrial environments.

"There are companies that build robot hardware, players that develop general-purpose intelligence and specialists who apply these technologies to real worksites," Hyun said. "We take well-built robots equipped with general intelligence and train them to fit specific operational environments."

Noting postdeployment management is just as important as initial training, Hyun explained how LG CNS is currently testing industrial humanoid robots at factories and logistics centers operated by more than 10 customers, including applications in smart factories and smart logistics.

In shipbuilding, the company is piloting humanoid robots for inspecting ship component assembly, while in logistics centers it is testing robots that stack and retrieve boxes.

"LG CNS has accumulated extensive experience across diverse industrial environments. We have a strong understanding of how tasks are performed, what decisions are required at each stage and what know-how is needed in the field," the CEO said.

At the center is LG's physical AI strategy dubbed, "Maestro" aimed at integrating heterogeneous robots from different manufacturers into a single coordinated system, the company said.

The strategy is designed to enable robots with different purposes and capabilities to operate as a team, coordinating tasks and collaborating organically based on specific working conditions and environments.

The company is also diversifying its business models, offering services ranging from standalone robot software deployment to bundled hardware-and-software sales, and platform-based models that cover robot deployment, monitoring and continuous retraining, depending on customer needs.

On its agentic AI-based transformation initiative, which focuses on redesigning existing work structures and processes so that AI can deliver measurable results, LG CNS said it will step up efforts this year to generate tangible outcomes for customers, including productivity gains and cost reductions.