4 months ago
When LG announced that it would demo a laundry-folding, chore-doing robot astatine CES 2026, I was instantly intrigued. For years, I've wandered nan Las Vegas Convention Center halls and wondered erstwhile personification mightiness create a robot that tin tackle nan mundane but useful tasks I despise for illustration folding laundry. With CLOiD (pronounced for illustration "Floyd"), LG has proven that this is theoretically possible, but astir apt not apt to hap immoderate clip soon.
I went to nan company's CES booth to watch its objection of CLOiD's abilities, which besides see serving food, fetching objects and fittingness coaching. During a very cautiously choreographed 15-minute presentation, I watched CLOiD drawback a carton of beverage retired of nan fridge, put a croissant successful an oven, benignant and fold immoderate laundry and drawback a group of keys disconnected a sofa and manus them to nan quality presenter.
Throughout nan demonstration, LG showed disconnected really its ain appliances tin play on pinch nan robot. When it rolled complete to nan fridge, nan doorway automatically opened, arsenic did nan oven. When nan LG-branded robot vacuum needed to move astir a hamper, CLOiD helpfully cleared nan path. But nan robot besides moved very slowly, which you tin spot successful nan item video below.
The appliance shaper is trading nan setup arsenic a portion of its imagination for a "zero labour home" wherever its appliances and, I guess, robotics exertion tin travel together to return attraction of each your chores and family upkeep. Maybe I'm jaded from a decade of watching CES vaporware, but I near nan slick demo reasoning nan conception is improbable to magnitude to overmuch anytime soon.
On 1 hand, it is breathtaking to spot robots competently performing tasks that would really beryllium useful to astir people. But this exertion is still acold from accessible. Even LG isn't making immoderate patient commitments astir CLOiD's early arsenic thing much than a CES demo. The institution has alternatively said that CLOiD is simply a awesome of its liking successful creating "home robots pinch applicable functions" and "robotized appliances," for illustration fridges pinch doors that tin unfastened automatically.
That whitethorn beryllium a much reasonable target for nan institution (and yet different measurement for LG to waste america much appliance upgrades). But it's still beautiful acold from thing approaching nan imagination of a "zero labour home."
