Remember Jarvis, the loyal household butler of Iron Man ? Of course, while he was a butler in the mortal form in Marvel Comics, he got transformed into this artificial intelligence machine in the Iron Man movies. His employer Tony Stark (Iron Man) is seen talking with Jarvis like he is human and Jarvis always has a solution to his problems, in the movies.

It sure will be amazing to have your own Jarvis or just being able to command your refrigerator or washing machine remotely, even when you are not at home. LG has managed to make the stuff of those sci-fi movies a reality. It recently launched its line of premium smart appliances and using HomeChat, consumers can interact with them or give commands remotely.

At the brightly lit LG Best Shop at Gangnam district in Seoul, LG officials demonstrated smart appliances to Indian journalists earlier this month. Sending a text message to the washing machine begins the wash cycle. You can even chat with it for updates. If you ask the smart washing machine, “What are you doing?”, the washing machines sends you real time updates and its progress. So how does it work? Consumers can download the HomeChat app on their smartphones to be able to chat up with this smart appliance range which includes refrigerator, washing machine and oven.

The smart refrigerator, for instance, has a built-in refrigerator camera that can monitor what’s in the fridge, capturing images when you open and close the door. So if you are driving from office and want to make a short stop at the grocery store and can’t remember what you need, you can use HomeChat to ask your refrigerator, “Howdy, What’s cooking? Ermm … I mean, what’s in the fridge? And it will send you images that it clicked the last time you opened the fridge. It will even respond to specific questions about the amount of a particular food item through the messaging service.

You can do a lot more, of course. You can change the temperature of the fridge remotely, check expiration dates on the food or get recipe recommendations based on the fridge’s contents.

The LG Smart washing machines can be remotely switched on through a message through the messenger services. You can download appropriate wash cycles via a wi-fi connection and send instructions. The smart oven also responds to instructions for cooking and change in temperature, among a host of other functions.

After launching in Korea, LG is next looking to take these smart appliances to markets like the US. There is no saying when these will be launched in India. A report by Deloitte India in January has this to say about Internet of Things (IoT): “At least three of the five global brands which operate in the mobile device market of India have an equally big home appliances business in this market. This could prompt a significant differentiation war between these companies, possibly leading to “integrated electronic lifestyle solutions” reaching the market in next two years. Such solutions could be a set of interconnected devices including mobile, TV, washing machine, refrigerator, home security solutions, car security solutions and kitchen appliances,” the report said.

Washing clothes without soap or water? Another interesting appliance LG has launched in Korea is the Clothing Management Cabinet called the LG Styler. It helps you professionally clean your clothes using steam to reduce wrinkles, and, especially, odours.

It looks like a closet which helps you keep both your washable and dry-cleanable clothes fresh. It uses steam spray to make your clothes look, feel and smell fresh and its moving hanger action removes wrinkles. LG showcased this in December last year at the CES global consumer electronics and technology tradeshow.

This one is based on Korean consumers’ insights. Consumers are fond of eating kimchee, a dish of fermented vegetables, but it emits a strong odour, which makes the Styler a good proposition. Priced at a premium even in the Korean markets, some of the fine dining restaurants are said to be one of the first consumers for this. It remains to be seen whether the company will look at launching this in India in the next few years.

The writer was in Seoul recently at the invitation of LG

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