LG Uplus invests in U.S. robot-maker

South Korea’s leading mobile carrier LG Uplus said Thursday that it had invested $2 million in U.S. information technology venture JIBO Inc., a developer of the world’s first social robot for home, dubbed Jibo.

Founded in January this year, the U.S. venture firm has run a series of campaigns to raise funds including the one that landed around $25.3 million in January to accelerate the mass production of the social robot.

The stationary robot equipped with two high-resolution cameras and a 360-degree microphone can recognize moves and voices and read emails and itineraries to owners.

An LG Uplus official said that “the robot shy of 1 foot (30 centimeters) tall in height would help the mobile carrier to take the lead in the global market for the Internet of Things, a network of objects, down the road.”

LG Uplus has rolled out a number of user-centric services, including its LTE video portal platform, which allows customers to watch all video content of the firm and its partners on their mobile devices without glitches, and IoT@home, which enables user to control home appliances with smartphones.

JIBO aims to bring its social robot to global markets, including Korea, Japan and China, early next year.

Global device makers, telecom firms and venture capitals, including Acer of Taiwan and KDDI of Japan, have participated in the funding campaigns for the U.S start-up.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)