The Arrival of the $20,000 Humanoid, and the Shift to Intelligent Logistics
The Logistics Industry in a Critical Dilemma
“The needs are growing exponentially, but the costs must keep falling.” This is how Dongshin Son, Head of Smart Logistics Robotics at LG CNS, summed up the reality of today’s logistics industry. The explosive growth of e-commerce, normalization of dawn deliveries, and constant wage hikes have created a triple bind—making logistics automation not an option but a condition for survival.
But the limitations of traditional automation technologies have also become apparent. “Over time, performance degrades, and continuous maintenance and management are required—something both implementers and operators have overlooked,” Son points out. While functions like storage, picking, and sorting have been mostly automated, tasks in diverse physical environments—such as unloading, inspection, and loading—still rely heavily on manual labor.
The Rise of 4th Generation Robots: Humanoids with Brains
To overcome these challenges, the 4th generation humanoid robots have emerged. According to Son, the key difference between conventional AMRs (autonomous mobile robots) and these next-gen robots lies in whether they “have a brain.”
“With the emergence of 4th generation robots, we’re entering an era where machines can understand human language and operate in human environments,” he says. This represents a new level of automation that extends beyond logistics into actual factory operations.
Son categorizes AI’s evolution into four stages: Traditional AI → Generative AI → Agent AI → Physical AI. Physical AI is a transformative technology that “thinks and acts autonomously,” recognizing its environment and carrying out tasks with minimal instruction.