LG Electronics to run its robot data factory in Q4, targets 500,000 hours of training data with NVIDIA
LG Electronics told analysts on its third-quarter earnings call on Oct 28 that its Seoul robot data factory will start full operation in the fourth quarter, that its Changwon actuator pilot line is being readied for mass production, and that it is building about 500,000 hours of real and simulated robot training data with NVIDIA, according to Chosun Ilbo, Newspim and Aju Business Daily.
The company said it will focus on factory and logistics robots first and expand to home humanoids around 2030.
LG Electronics laid out its robot plan on its third-quarter earnings call on Oct 28, according to accounts of the call by Chosun Ilbo, Newspim and Aju Business Daily, which agree on the main points. The company's preliminary results filing on DART the same day put the quarter in context: nine-month operating profit passed KRW 4 trillion for the first time.
Chief financial officer Kim Chang-tae said the LG data factory in Seoul, which LG calls the country's largest base for robot learning and data collection, will start full operation in the fourth quarter and will be used to improve its robot foundation models together with partners including NVIDIA. LG built an actuator pilot line in Changwon in the first half and is automating it and tightening quality ahead of mass production, Kim said, adding that LG will pursue orders from global customers and hopes to gain an early edge in component standards.
An LG executive said on the call that the work with NVIDIA spans simulation, world models and a robot development platform, and that LG is building a data loop that combines real and synthetic data to reach about 500,000 hours of training data. LG will concentrate on manufacturing and logistics first and expand to home humanoids around 2030, when it expects the market to open; price, the executive said, is what will decide whether households buy.
MEKAWIRE context: our Oct 15 report covered the opening of the data factory to outside companies; the call adds the Q4 operating date, the actuator mass-production track and the data target. LG has not published these figures in a release, so they rest on the call accounts.