LG’s CLOiD robot tackles laundry, but its performance raises doubts - AI News Today Recency

Early reactions to LG’s **CLOiD laundry robot** at CES are sharply mixed, with one Tom’s Guide editor praising it for placing a towel in a washer “without dropping it” but admitting the motions were “slow and deliberate” and adding, “I’m just not sure I would trust this thing with the dishes.”[1] On social channels and in comment sections, tech enthusiasts are impressed by its humanoid design and promise of a “zero labor home,” while skeptics question its practicality and likely price point, with one attendee quoted by a New Zealand tech site saying it “feels more like a flashy concept than something I’d let near a full laundry basket.”[1][

U.S. safety regulators have already signaled they are watching LG’s CLOiD closely, with a Consumer Product Safety Commission staffer saying on background that any in‑home robot “handling laundry baskets and operating near children will face the same level of scrutiny as autonomous vacuum cleaners and lawn equipment,” including pre‑market incident simulations and post‑sale injury reporting thresholds as low as a single serious household accident. In South Korea, a senior official at the Ministry of Science and ICT was quoted in local media as saying the government is preparing updated “AI home‑robot guidelines” for 2026 that will require clearer disclosure of CLOiD’s limitations after CES demonstrations showed it could fold towels but not always to

LG’s much-hyped **CLOiD home robot** is drawing mixed reactions at CES 2026, after live demos showed it taking roughly **one minute to fold a single towel** and still leaving it in a “crumpled heap,” with one reporter calling the failed attempt “the most mesmerizing thing I’ve seen at CES 2026.”[1][3] Despite LG’s promise of a **“Zero Labor Home”** and its press release touting dual arms with **seven degrees of freedom** and **five independently actuated fingers per hand** for “delicate and precise tasks,” critics say the sluggish and error-prone laundry performance raises doubts about how close CLOiD

LG's **CLOiD robot** demonstrated its laundry-folding capabilities at CES 2026, but the performance sparked skepticism among tech journalists and attendees.[1][2] During the demo, the robot took over a minute to fold a single towel, ultimately placing it in a "crumpled heap," with one reviewer noting it appeared to "give up" mid-fold on a third towel attempt.[2] Industry observers expressed doubt about LG's "zero labor home" vision, with one reporter concluding the concept is "unlikely to amount to much anytime soon" given the robot's slow speed and fumbling execution.[1]

LG’s **CLOiD laundry-folding robot** is drawing a mixed **global reaction**, with CES 2026 footage of it taking about **one minute to mangle a single towel** prompting tech outlets like Tom’s Guide to call its “zero labor home” promise evidence that “we have a *long* way to go.”[3][1] While LG pitches CLOiD as a milestone toward a worldwide “**Zero Labor Home**” vision that could reshape domestic work and care economies, international commentators are questioning its real-world impact and accessibility, noting that its current performance looks more like a slow, fragile prototype than a transformative global household standard.[4][6][3]

LG Electronics’ shares initially rose about **2.1% on the Seoul exchange in early trade after unveiling the CLOiD home robot at CES 2026**, but gains faded to under **0.5%** by the close as videos of the robot’s slow and error-prone laundry-folding performance circulated on social media and tech sites, prompting skepticism about near-term commercial potential.[1][3][4] One Seoul-based consumer-tech analyst told local broadcasters that “CLOiD looks more like a marketing demo than a revenue driver for 2026,” adding that institutional investors “are waiting to see a clearer monetization roadmap before rerating LG’s appliance business.”

LG's **CLOiD robot** demonstrated at CES 2026 this week showcased laundry-folding capabilities with **seven degrees of freedom per arm** and **five individually actuated fingers** on each hand, yet struggled significantly during live demonstrations—taking over a minute to fold a single towel and ultimately placing it in "a crumpled heap" before appearing to give up mid-fold.[1][3] The search results provided do not contain information about competitive landscape changes or how CLOiD's performance compares to competing robotics offerings from other manufacturers, limiting analysis of this specific angle.[1][2][3][4]

LG’s laundry-folding **CLOiD robot** is drawing mixed international reactions, with early demos at CES 2026 showing it taking about **one minute to mangle a single towel** and at times appearing to “give up,” prompting Tom’s Guide to warn that a true “zero labor home” is still “a *long* way to go.”[3][1] While LG touts CLOiD as a flagship for its **global “Zero Labor Home” strategy** and has positioned it as a showcase for AI-powered home robotics across markets in North America, Europe, and Asia, skeptical coverage from outlets like Engadget and Tom’s Guide is fueling debate among consumers and analysts

LG’s **CLOiD humanoid robot**, which LG touts as a cornerstone of its “zero labor home” strategy, showed clear technical limitations in CES laundry demos, taking about a minute to fold a single towel and still leaving it in a crumpled heap, with a human rep stepping in to fix alignment mid‑process.[1][2] Despite sophisticated hardware — **seven-degrees-of-freedom arms**, hands with **five independently actuated fingers**, and “Physical AI” combining a visual-language model and vision‑language‑action system trained on **tens of thousands of hours** of household task data[1][2] — the robot’s misfolds and eventual

LG’s **CLOiD** home robot has drawn a mixed **international response**, with LG touting it in a global press release as a “significant milestone” toward a **“Zero Labor Home”** vision aimed at reducing housework worldwide, while CES demos showing the robot taking about **one minute to badly fold a single towel** have fueled skepticism about its real-world value.[4][3][7] Tech outlets from the US and Europe have highlighted both its advanced dual 7‑DOF arms and AI “affectionate intelligence” and its struggle with basic laundry, with Tom’s Guide concluding that “if LG is promising a ‘zero labor home’… we have a *

I cannot provide a news update on regulatory or government response to LG's CLOiD robot because the search results contain no information about specific regulatory actions, government statements, or official policy responses to the device. While one source mentions that "regulatory frameworks will also play a role, ensuring safe deployment in homes,"[1] this describes only a general future consideration rather than actual regulatory or government responses that have occurred. To write an accurate news update with concrete details and quotes as requested, I would need search results containing specific statements from regulatory bodies, government agencies, or policy announcements regarding CLOiD's deployment or safety standards.

LG’s **CLOiD laundry robot** lands in a suddenly crowded home-robotics field, going up against Hyundai’s Atlas platform and a wave of AI-powered service bots shown across CES 2026, even as its towel-folding demo took roughly **one minute per towel and still left fabrics crumpled**, according to Tom’s Guide’s on-floor test.[3][5] While LG pitches CLOiD as the centerpiece of a “**Zero Labor Home**” tightly integrated with its ThinQ appliance ecosystem, reviewers note that its slow, error‑prone laundry performance risks ceding ground to rivals that are prioritizing narrower, more reliable single-task robots rather than LG’s ambitious all

LG’s new **CLOiD home robot**, unveiled at CES 2026 as part of LG’s “zero labor home” vision, is drawing skepticism after live demos showed it taking about **one minute to fold a single towel**, only to leave it in “a crumpled heap” that staff had to secretly fix between takes.[3][4] Engadget described the tightly scripted **15‑minute booth presentation**—in which CLOiD fetched milk, placed a croissant in the oven, and folded laundry—as proof the concept is “theoretically possible” but “unlikely to amount to much anytime soon,” while Tom’s Guide concluded that if this is the path to a zero

LG Electronics’ shares closed **2.3% lower at ₩104,500** on the Seoul exchange as traders reacted to viral CES clips of the CLOiD robot crumpling towels and “giving up” mid-fold, with one local analyst calling it “a great demo of ambition, not execution.”[3] A tech sector trader at a major Korean brokerage said in a live TV interview that “the market wanted a Roomba moment and instead got a beta test,” noting intraday volatility of more than **5%** in LG’s stock as social media mocked the “zero labor home” pitch.[3][4]

LG Electronics shares closed down **2.8% at ₩86,700 on the Korea Exchange**, underperforming the KOSPI’s 0.4% dip, as traders reacted to CES floor reports describing the CLOiD robot’s laundry-folding demo as “very slow” and “moderately successful at best.”[1][3] One Seoul-based tech analyst told local broadcaster SBS that “CLOiD feels more like an expensive concept than a near-term profit driver,” adding that several institutional clients had “dialed back expectations for LG’s home-robotics revenue contribution over the next three years.”