Samsung Electronics to release human assistant robot EX1 in 2023

“Robots are a new growth engine of Samsung Electronics,” said Han Jong-hee at a press conference Friday at the CES 2023 in Las Vegas. [Source : Samsung Electronics]

Samsung Electronics Co. will release EX1, a human assistant robot, this year as it strives to foster robots as one of its future growth engines.

“Robots are a new growth engine of Samsung Electronics,” said Han Jong-hee, chief executive officer and vice chairman of the South Korean tech giant, at a press conference Friday at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2023 in Las Vegas. “We plan to release a human assistant robot called EX1 within this year.”

Samsung Electronics has been diving deeper into robot business after it picked the sector as one of its future growth engines. The company promoted its robot business task force created in 2021 to a higher team level last year.

Samsung Electronics’ Executive Chairman Jay Y. Lee has also been eager to foster robots and related technology. Lee announced plans in 2021 to invest 240 trillion won ($191 billion) over the next three years in future new businesses that include robots and artificial intelligence.

The Korean company has already invested 59 billion won in cooperative robot developer Rainbow Robotics last week.

Han, meanwhile, told reporters that Samsung Electronics is open to merger and acquisitions, which has been almost none after its 9 trillion won purchase of U.S. car infotainment audio company Harman International Industries in 2017.

“Procedures after CES (last year) have been delayed due to issues such as the Russia-Ukraine war, lockdown in China and U.S.-China conflict,” Han said. “We will be able to expect some good news given efforts to return to normal life.” Han did not provide details, however, citing security.