Thursday, January 4, 2018

Tech Giant, LG, is Rolling Out new Robots to Replace Workers in Hotels, Airports and Supermarkets

From CNBC:
  • South Korean tech giant LG Electronics said Thursday it will showcase three new "concept robots" at next week's consumer electronics show in Las Vegas
  • A McKinsey report released in November said that up to 800 million workers could be affected globally by automation and the rise of artificial intelligence
  • Tech companies are testing robots to carry out various tasks that could affect the services industry, which employs nearly 50 percent of the global workforce, according to the International Labour Organization
A Korean tech giant on Thursday announced new robots that take aim squarely at the jobs of many services industry workers around the globe.

There have long been predictions that advances in artificial intelligence and automation could end up eliminating millions of jobs over time, and tech companies have been testing robots to carry out a variety of tasks — from working in a pizza parlor to making deliveries that could greatly affect the services industry in the future.

For its part, South Korean giant LG Electronics is the latest company that is planning to sell robots to solve tasks currently completed by humans.

On Thursday, LG said it will showcase three new "concept robots" at the global consumer electronics show, CES, in Las Vegas next week. Those robots are designed for commercial use at hotels, airports and supermarkets, according to the company. An LG spokesman later told CNBC that the robots are still "concept" products and that they are "a long way from ready to go public."
The three new concept robots from LG Electronics are aimed at the services industry, in areas like hotels, airports and supermarkets.
Source: LG Electronics
The three new concept robots from LG Electronics are aimed at the services industry, in areas like hotels, airports and supermarkets.
The first one is a server robot that can deliver food and drinks to customers at hotels and airport lounges. It can essentially replace the work done by the waitstaff and be able to do it around the clock....
...MUCH MORE