Samsung Unveils Health-Focused Home Robots and Wearable Exoskeletons at CES

Recently, VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned that at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas, USA, Samsung showcased its latest achievements in robotics platforms, including Samsung Bot Care, Samsung Bot Air, and Samsung Bot Retail, which are designed for personal care, daily life, and retail scenarios, respectively.

Among them, Samsung Bot Care is a robot designed to monitor the health of home users. It features a minimalist white design, with a display screen on its “face” that houses sensors. This screen not only reflects the robot’s “expressions” and “emotions” but also displays the user’s vital health indicators.

Image source: TechRadar website

Bot Care enables voice interaction with users, monitors vital signs, measures heart rate and blood pressure, reminds users to take medication, and tracks medication adherence. Additionally, Bot Care monitors sleep quality and provides personalized guidance on stretching and exercise based on the user’s physical condition.

Bot Care also features specialized capabilities for elderly care. It can connect to IoT sensors; when an elderly person falls, Bot Care uses sensor data to detect the location of the fall and contacts their friends or family members, or even automatically calls emergency services. The emergence of such caregiving humanoid robots is merely the beginning of digital health.

Samsung Bot Air is a self-propelled air purifier capable of monitoring and purifying air quality. If air sensors are installed around the user’s home, Bot Air receives alerts from these sensors when air quality deteriorates in specific locations. It then promptly navigates to the affected area to conduct scans while filtering out harmful substances.

Image source: Engadget website

For many people, Samsung’s Bot Retail may be relatively familiar, as similar robots have already appeared in some shopping malls and restaurants. Bot Retail is a more comprehensive service robot capable of guiding guests, displaying food items and menus, serving coffee and small plates, and even facilitating NFC-based wireless payments. In the future, this robot could become widely deployed in unmanned supermarkets and retail stores.

In addition to the three robots mentioned above, Samsung also launched the Gait Enhancing & Motivating System, abbreviated as GEMS. This is a series of wearable devices designed to assist various body parts, particularly the knees, ankles, and hips. Among them, GEMS-H is particularly noteworthy, resembling a lightweight exoskeleton. This device is primarily used to help people walk, correct gait posture, and increase walking speed. It is reported that using GEMS-H for assisted walking can save 23% of energy while increasing walking speed by nearly 20%. This product can be utilized for medical rehabilitation.

Image source: Engadget website

GEMS-H can also assist users in climbing stairs, enhancing stability and providing resistance support when descending. Samsung states that while users can employ this device to add resistance to their workouts, it may prove more effective for injury rehabilitation than for general fitness training.

At this press conference, Samsung did not announce the market launch date or pricing for its robot. However, it is evident that Samsung is leveraging its advancements in artificial intelligence and robotics to venture into the healthcare sector and home-use scenarios.