LG’s Bear Move Is A Bull Move For Its Smart Home Plans

LG is making another big bet on the smart home, following up on its acquisition of Athom by taking a majority stake in Bear Robotics; a Silicon Valley startup known for AI-driven service robots.

Back in March 2024, LG invested $60 million in Bear Robotics. This gave the Korean tech giant a 21% share in the Redwood City company and this new move adds 30% more, meaning they’ll own 51%.

This move builds on LG’s previous robotics efforts, including its CLOi robots, which have popped up in hotels and airports but never quite became household staples.

Now, with the upcoming Q9 Self-driving AI Home Hub - which we’re promised is an actual thing that will actually be released this year - LG is taking a fresh approach; one that could finally make home robots as essential as a smart speaker... maybe.

Unlike traditional smart home hubs that sit in one place, the Q9 is designed to roam around, using AI-powered navigation to follow you from room to room.

Equipped with voice, sound, and image recognition, it won’t just take commands, it will actively assess your environment and respond accordingly.

Need a reminder to drink water? The Q9 can prompt you. Forgot to turn off the lights? It can handle that, too.

Integrated with LG’s smart home ecosystem, it will be able to control appliances, adjust settings, and even offer recommendations based on your habits.

LG’s vision for the “Zero-labor Home” is ambitious, but this latest push suggests it is getting closer to reality… if the Q9 becomes more than a waiter on wheels, that is.

With Bear Robotics’ expertise and LG’s smart home ecosystem (now fuelled by Athom, of course), the Q9 could be the first step toward a truly intelligent home assistant; one that doesn’t just respond to commands but anticipates what you need.

Even if it’s not, it’s still more exciting than a Wi-Fi enabled washing machine, eh?

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