LG Innotek to build Nvidia-ready robot sensors

LG Innotek, the electronic components affiliate of LG, will develop what amounts to the eyes and hands of humanoid robots that run on Nvidia’s platform.

LG Innotek unveiled a lineup of sensing solutions built on Nvidia’s proprietary technology at the GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in Berlin on Tuesday.

The technology, known as Holoscan Sensor Bridge (HSB), sends data collected by sensors straight to an AI computer without routing it through a processor. This saves processing power and allows faster decisions. LG Innotek showed a 3-megapixel camera module and a multimodal vision system that combines multiple cameras and sensors.

“This partnership is a good opportunity to spread LG Innotek’s differentiated integrated sensing solutions across the global market,” CEO Moon Hyuk-soo said in a statement. “As a physical AI total solution provider covering not only sensing but also communication modules and semiconductor substrates, we will move quickly to take the lead in this field.”

The two companies plan to expand cooperation on HSB-based physical AI sensing solutions, including vision sensing for humanoid robots and robotic hands. LG Innotek will develop sensing solutions compatible with Nvidia’s next-generation platform and show them at CES and the GTC next year.

The LG affiliate is pushing hard into physical AI businesses such as autonomous driving and robotics to secure new growth engines quickly. 

In autonomous driving, the company signed a strategic partnership last year with Aeva, a U.S. lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) maker. This year, it began cooperating on joint development of autonomous driving solutions with Applied Intuition, a U.S. autonomous driving software company, and Kakao Mobility, Korea’s largest mobility platform operator.

In robotics, it is developing robot components with Boston Dynamics and has started mass production of camera modules for North American robotics customers.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [[email protected]]