When we first heard about LG\u2019s Hub robot, it sure sounded a lot like a cross between an Amazon Echo and a Roomba. Turns out the company has gone for a much more friendly robot approach to the tech. The Hub is a peanut shaped bot designed to hang out on a desktop or table, with a display that doubles as its face.
The company isn\u2019t talking much about the Hub\u2019s functionality, beyond some basic smart home features, like the ability to play music. All in all, it sounds like a more humanized version of Amazon (and, for that matter, LG\u2019s) speaker hubs.
The robot will also have a smaller counterpart (the Mini) and a much larger one \u2013 the simply named Airport guide, which will be rolled out (quite literally) at Incheon Airport in South Korea later this year, offering travelers gate information and departure times \u2013 essentially service as a friendly version of your standard airport kiosk, only with a face.
webOS has lived a strange life over the past several years. In LG\u2019s hands, however, it\u2019s probably not surprising that the one-time Palm operating system was destined to wind up on the front of a refrigerator. What\u2019s more interesting here, is the fact that LG has rolled it\u2019s on-going partnership with Amazon to bring the Alexa voice assistant directly to the InstaView Door-in-Door refrigerator.
The companies are promising the \u201cfull Alexa experience,\u201d making the fridge the latest of a growing number of devices vying to become the hub of users\u2019 growing smart home ecosystem. That means you\u2019ll be able to do the standard music playing, along with some smart home control.
Amazon functionality also means that users will be able to order food directly from the front of the device with their device, one-upping the Amazon Dash functionality the company has rolled out past appliances, so you really don\u2019t have an excuse to ever leave your fridge\u2019s immediate vicinity.<\/p>\n