Humanoids

LG Will Unveil a Jetson Thor Humanoid in Q1 2027

Robb Harlan 4 min read

LG says it is building a next-generation bipedal humanoid on NVIDIA Isaac GR00T, with a public unveiling targeted for the first quarter of 2027. The announcement landed with a memorandum of understanding signed August 13 at NVIDIA’s Santa Clara headquarters. LG Corp chairman Kwang Mo Koo and NVIDIA founder Jensen Huang were both there.

The robot is not a finished product. It is a stack commitment: Jetson Thor for onboard compute, Isaac GR00T as the open humanoid foundation model, and Halos for Robotics as the safety layer. Hardware is supposed to come from inside the group — actuators from LG Electronics, sensors from LG Innotek, batteries from LG Energy Solution.

Jensen Huang and LG chairman Kwang Mo Koo shake hands over a miniature humanoid
Huang and Koo at the Santa Clara signing, with a miniature humanoid on the table. Source: Korea JoongAng Daily / LG.

What they actually signed

LG’s own release frames the deal as a move from “strategic blueprints into full execution” across robotics, AI factories, and mobility. A joint task force of technical and business people is supposed to cover R&D, site validation, and commercialization.

The nearer robot is not the biped. This year, LG plans to put its wheeled CLOiD on a washing-machine line at LG Electronics’ Tennessee plant. Results from that proof of concept are meant to feed later deployments in factories, homes, and commercial spaces.

A robot data factory sits in the middle. LG CNS’s PhysicalWorks platform is supposed to collect, synthesize, train, and verify robot data on site. That stream is also meant to feed an in-house Robot Foundation Model LG says it is already developing, while still using GR00T.

Huang and Koo hold a boxed miniature humanoid after signing the MOU
Same signing, different frame. Source: Yonhap / LG.

“The defining opportunity of physical AI is to give every machine the ability to understand the real world, reason and act safely alongside people,” Huang said in the LG release.

“As our discussions have moved fast, our tasks and goals in AI Factory and Physical AI have become clear,” Koo said.

The rest of the package

The same MOU covers more than legs. LG plans a Vera Rubin AI-factory reference site in the first half of 2027, then an 80-megawatt facility in Cheonan in the first half of 2028. Aju Press, citing the company, says the Cheonan site will use prefabricated modules and is supposed to cut construction time by more than 20 percent. Mobility work is slated around NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion and LG’s in-vehicle software.

NVIDIA’s own GR00T walkthrough of the foundation-model stack LG says it will use. Source: NVIDIA / YouTube.

NVIDIA Isaac GR00T diagram showing foundation models, simulation, and Jetson Thor
Isaac GR00T as NVIDIA describes it: foundation models, synthetic data, Isaac Sim, and Thor onboard. Source: NVIDIA Developer.

A Human’s Take

I will watch Tennessee, not Santa Clara. A signed MOU and a boxed desk robot do not tell you if a biped can hold a shift. CLOiD on a washer line is the first place LG has to show that its own actuators, sensors, and data loop survive grease and cycle time. If that wheeled pilot is late or stays a photo-op, the 2027 humanoid date is just a calendar entry.

Sources

Tags: Humanoids