Robot

Overview

For many years in the past, the concept of ‘Robot’ had remained the same: to help people with routine labor mainly in industrial applications.

Now, with the rapid development of AI, robotics, and cloud computing, the concept of robot has been revolutionized and redefined, allowing for the emergence of a new intelligent robot market not just for the industrial world but for various professional and personal use cases in people’s normal lives.

To address this opportunity, Samsung Research has set its goal to secure cutting-edge software and hardware technologies for robotics, delivering rich AI experiences to customers.

It is our promise to the world that we at Samsung Research will never stop challenging ourselves to push the intelligent robotics technology boundary to the next level.

Our Vision

Samsung Bot, Touching Your Daily Life

We believe robots will go beyond simple assistance to become
true companions that touch our daily lives.

‘Samsung Bot’ is one of Samsung’s next-generation AI projects.
Our goal is to push ourselves to innovate to make a positive impact on the world, and we believe that the users of our robots will be able to take advantage of their various AI technologies, giving them special services as if someone was close by all the time.

So, it is envisioned as ‘Samsung Bot, Touching Our Daily Lives’ - companion robots which make our lives more convenient and happier, by helping our physical activities or communicating with us through cognitive interactions.

We will keep advancing cutting-edge software & hardware technologies for robotics to the commercialization level to serve real benefits to customers.

Research Topics

To achieve our vision, we are developing and securing all the key technologies for building robots, from software such as OS, middleware, and AI, to hardware such as sensors, motors, systems, manipulation, and locomotion. We are integrating them with a common robot platform as well as trying to implement various ideas, form factors, and possible killer use cases based on the platform.

What’s more, as robotics is a field converged with complex technologies, Samsung Research collaborates across various departments, and specifically with Samsung Corporate Design Center in areas such as customer experience, product/UX design, and HRI research.

As for the end-products, we are focusing on 3 types of form factors for both personal and professional use cases.

1. Wearable

‘GEMS (Gait Enhancing & Motivating System)’, a walking assist wearable robot, was first introduced at ‘CES 2019’ as a next-generation healthcare device to help those with weakened leg muscles – such as people recovering from injuries – enhance their physical performance. Since then, we are adding more features, such as sport, fitness, and entertainment functionalities to transform living spaces into experience-spaces for personal fitness needs through seamless connections. We will keep achieving commercial-ready performance capabilities, and verifying and validating the safety and the accessibility to real users so that we can deliver it people who really need the benefits as quickly as possible.

2. Mobility

For professional and commercial applications, we introduced Bot Retail to address various retail scenarios from shopping malls, to restaurants and stores in ‘CES 2019’. We have continued to bolster Bot Retail’s functionalities and made customized versions to address various needs in the retail sector, including Bot Serving, a food-serving robot in a restaurant, and Bot Guide, a guide/reception robot in a shopping mall or building.
We are also keep advancing home robots such as Bot Care. Bot Care delivers on our goal to create technology that serves as an extension of ourselves and our living spaces, blending in naturally with daily life both in design and function. Samsung Bot Care uses AI to recognize and understand behaviors to be a better robotic assistant and companion, managing whatever arises in daily life. Bot Care knows your schedule and habits and can send reminders to help guide you through the day.

3. Manipulation

While demand for products and services that help around the home is increasing, challenges around cost, lack of adequate grasp technology and limited work space have kept robotic solutions out of people’s homes. To make this technology a reality in the home, we are developing a cost-effective AI-Infused robotic arm, with real-time control and state-of-the-art indoor autonomous navigation technique.
Bot Handy is an Autonomous Mobile Manipulation Robot (AMMR) that acts as an extension of you anywhere you need help in the home. Using AI, Bot Handy is able to recognize, grasp, pick up and place objects anywhere you need help in the home working as your trusted partner to move around and do things like clean up messy rooms or sort out the dishes after a meal.