The archive · Product Ideas · Product decision · 2022
LG gives its B2B hotel robot a face with digital expressions
LG's B2B service robot, whether porter, cart or information terminal, leads with a head-shaped UI whose facial expressions add a human touch.
LG Electronics
What it had to solve
LG's intelligent service robot, named LG B2B, was designed for hotels and sales areas, where it must enhance the atmosphere with a friendly appearance while moving goods and answering questions safely. It comes in three modular versions: a porter robot, a cart robot and an information terminal.
How it works
LG's B2B service robot is built for places where machines meet the public: hotels and sales areas. It exists in three modular versions, as a porter robot, a cart robot and an information terminal, so one family covers carrying luggage, moving goods and answering questions.
The design decision was to make the interface the star. The UI is shaped like a head and uses digital facial expressions, adding a human aspect to interaction with the robot, while the cylindrical body underlines stability and safe operation.
The result was an award-documented design: the Red Dot jury praised its high modularity and clear aesthetics, describing the robot as an extremely useful assistant in various service scenarios. The project is preserved in the Red Dot Design Award archive as a 2022 winner.
Why it lands
- Facial expressions make the robot legible as a social presence, so first-time users in a hotel lobby know how to approach it.
- Putting the personality in the interface, rather than the chassis, lets one modular family serve porter, cart and information roles with the same friendly identity.
- A head-shaped display signals where to look and how to interact, turning an unfamiliar machine into something intuitively readable.
- The cylindrical body balanced the friendly face with visible stability, addressing the safety concerns that keep people wary of service robots.
What it did
The Red Dot jury praised the platform's high degree of modularity and clear aesthetics, calling the LG B2B an extremely useful assistant in various service scenarios. The project is documented in the Red Dot Design Award archive as a 2022 winner.
What you can take
Machines that serve people benefit from being read as social actors: give a utility robot a face and expressions, and interaction stops feeling like operating an appliance.
Since then
The LG B2B joined a documented line of LG service-robot designs in the Red Dot Design Award archive, where the jury statement singles out modularity and clear aesthetics as what makes it useful across hotel and retail scenarios. It stands as an example of designing the interface as the emotional layer of a functional robot.
Sources
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.
Your turn
You just read one. Describe the brief you are staring at, and see who has been given the same problem.
Free account · 3 free questions · no card