Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are expanding their robotics operations through overseas recruitment, with Samsung focusing on technologies that improve robotic hands and LG building sales and engineering capabilities to supply robot components in North America.
The recruitment, detailed in job postings reviewed Sunday, offers a closer look at how the two Korean electronics giants are putting their robotics plans into practice.
Samsung's Japanese research subsidiary in Yokohama renewed a robotics control engineer posting on Thursday, seeking specialists in miniature actuator control, robotic hand and finger firmware, and motor control software. The recruitment dates back to August.
A separate posting published Sept. 17 covers tactile and force sensors, signal-processing algorithms and prototype testing, including development work toward mass production.
The two research areas address complementary challenges in robotic manipulation. Actuators control the movement of individual finger joints, while tactile sensors help robotic hands detect contact and adjust their grip when handling objects.
The Japanese research is part of Samsung's wider robotics investment. The company established a Robotics eXperience business unit reporting directly to CEO Roh Tae-moon in July, following its December 2024 decision to increase its stake in Korean robot maker Rainbow Robotics to 35 percent and bring it under its control.
LG's US recruitment is more directly focused on building a commercial customer base for robot components.
The company is seeking a sales director, key account managers and solutions engineers for the North American robotics and automation market. The positions cover customer acquisition, sales and profitability management, and technical support tailored to manufacturers' robot designs.
The planned sales operations follow LG's introduction of its Axium actuator brand at CES in January and the establishment of a pilot production line in Changwon during the first half of this year. LG is drawing on motor technologies developed for home appliances as it seeks to supply actuators to other robot makers.
Alongside the component business, LG is developing artificial intelligence for its own robotic platforms.
Its Emerging Technology Lab in Santa Clara, California, is recruiting a senior physical AI researcher to develop robotic foundation models that combine visual, language and tactile information to guide robotic actions.
LG unveiled its CLOiD household robot in January and announced a robotics collaboration with Nvidia in August. A facility producing data for robot training has since begun partial operations.
During an Oct. 28 earnings call, LG robotics strategy executive Lee Jae-mo said the company planned to establish its robot component business in manufacturing and logistics before expanding into household humanoid robots around 2030.
By Moon Joon-hyun (mjh@heraldcorp.com)
