LG to unveil first bipedal humanoid robot in Q1 next year, deepens AI alliance with Nvidia

LG Group will unveil its first bipedal humanoid robot — built on Nvidia technology — in the first quarter of next year.

LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo signed a memorandum of understanding with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Thursday (local time) at Nvidia's headquarters in Santa Clara, California, formalizing strategic business cooperation between the two companies.

The meeting came two months after Koo and Huang last met at LG Twin Towers in Yeouido, Seoul, in June. The two companies agreed to accelerate collaboration across three areas: robotics, AI factory and mobility.

Senior LG executives joined Koo for the Nvidia headquarters meeting, including Kwon Bong-seok, chief operating officer of LG Corp.; Ryu Jae-cheol, CEO of LG Electronics; Hong Beom-sik, CEO of LG Uplus; Hyun Shin-kyun, CEO of LG CNS; Jeong Su-heon, president of LG Science Park; and Lee Hong-rak, co-director of LG AI Research.

The bipedal humanoid robot LG aims to unveil in the first quarter of next year will be developed on three Nvidia platforms: Jetson Thor, a robot computing platform; Isaac GR00T, a robot automation platform; and Halos for Robotics, an integrated robot safety system.

Key technologies from major LG affiliates will also be incorporated — actuators from LG Electronics, sensors from LG Innotek and batteries from LG Energy Solution — as LG looks to demonstrate differentiated physical AI capabilities.

To accelerate the partnership, the two companies will also operate a joint task force composed of technology and business experts. The task force will collaborate closely across research and development, field validation and commercialization to deliver results quickly.

LG Electronics had earlier unveiled its Nvidia platform-based home robot "Cloid" at CES 2026 in January. The latest move signals a rapid expansion of the two companies' collaboration, stepping beyond the wheeled Cloid to a bipedal walking robot.

LG Electronics plans to deploy Cloid on a washing machine production line at its Tennessee factory in the United States this year for a proof-of-concept trial. Based on results from that real manufacturing environment, the company intends to refine the robot's performance and usability before rolling it out to production facilities, homes and commercial spaces worldwide.

LG will also build a robot data factory based on LG CNS's robot platform PhysicalWorks. The two companies agreed to expand their technology cooperation so that PhysicalWorks can implement and operate a physical AI data factory — cycling through data collection, generation, training and validation — in actual field settings.

LG plans to use the robot data and field-validation results from this collaboration to strengthen its own robot foundation model, which it is developing in-house. The strategy is to actively leverage Nvidia's platforms while simultaneously advancing LG's proprietary robotics technology.

In the AI factory segment, LG will pursue business opportunities through a "One LG" strategy that pools capabilities across its affiliates around Nvidia's AI factory optimization platform DSX — bringing together LG Electronics cooling systems, LG Energy Solution batteries, design and operational expertise from LG CNS and LG Uplus, and power equipment from LS.

As a first step, the two companies will build a reference site in the first half of next year to apply and validate LG's cooling, power and IT technologies based on Nvidia's next-generation AI superchip Vera Rubin.

By the first half of 2028, the project will scale up with the construction of an 80-megawatt AI factory in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province. The Cheonan AI factory is expected to support physical AI applications, particularly the advancement of robot foundation models.

Through this, LG will secure a reference for an AI factory built on Nvidia's latest DSX platform and validate the distinctive competitiveness of the "One LG" approach — with affiliate capabilities integrated across the entire process from design to construction and operation.

Armed with that reference, LG plans to offer global big-tech customers a packaged, proven AI factory solution and expand its business opportunities in the global AI infrastructure market.

LG, which has been investing heavily in expanding its automotive components business, will also use Nvidia's AI-based autonomous driving technology to extend its existing vehicle infotainment-centered business into the autonomous driving space.

The company plans to combine its in-vehicle infotainment and automotive software capabilities with Nvidia's automotive computing platform Drive Hyperion to develop a high-performance computing platform for next-generation AI-defined vehicles.

Through this, LG aims to offer global original equipment manufacturer customers an integrated next-generation automotive solution combining autonomous driving functions and in-vehicle AI services, opening new growth opportunities in the mobility market.

"As our collaboration with Nvidia gains momentum, the tasks we need to tackle together in AI factory, physical AI and mobility have become clear," Koo said. "We will accelerate the spread of AI by building industry-leading references."

Huang said the two companies are "combining LG's leadership in product engineering and manufacturing with Nvidia's technology, built on years of collaboration, to usher in a new era of robots, AI factories and self-driving cars."