LG Electronics Inc. and its sister company LG CNS Co. together will build a robot control system at Incheon International Airport, speeding up their efforts to expand presence in the robotics industry.

The two companies said Thursday that LG Electronics will deploy 14 self-driving guiding robots at the airport terminals while LG CNS will provide a wireless robot control system that will operate the robots. They aim to complete the installation of the system by June next year after a trial service during the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics in February.

Last month LG Electronics deployed its first fleet of robotic cleaners and guides at the airport, which was a separate commission from the latest project. A series of robot orders come after the Korean electronics giant recently vowed to reinforce its efforts to enhance its prowess in the artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics sectors.

The robots at the departure gates will monitor the number of people in line, guide passengers to their gates and notify them of restricted items onboard. Those placed at the arrival gates would guide people where they can pick up their baggage and answer any other queries.

LG CNS is to connect the airport operation system with the robot control platform to feed information to robots that will help provide enhanced services for passengers. For instance, robots would receive information on terminal traffic flow and guide people to less crowded areas. The integrated system can also control the robots by monitoring their current location and activities.

The two firms aim to export their robot business to other major airports in Europe and the Middle East as well as public and private sectors.

LG Electronics plans to enhance safety by relying on its high-performance image sensor capabilities when making robots and use machine learning to support multiple languages.

LG CNS, which set up a robot division in July, aims to broaden its services by integrating AI technology with its robot service platform by the end of the year. It is also seeking to advance its platform based on real-time big data analytics.

By Oh Chan-jong

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