LG Electronics Inc., which has been notably active on the robotics scene, said Friday that it bought a 10 percent equity stake in a South Korean robot developer.

The Korean tech giant bought rights offering issued by unlisted Robotis Co. that translates into 19,231 common shares, or a 10.12 percent stake. It paid about 9 billion won ($8.44 million).

Founded in 1999, Robotis specializes in robotic solutions and educational or toy robots. Its offerings range from hardware such as controllers and sensor modules to robot programming software. It is recognized for its proprietary smart actuators used to create multi-jointed robots, which are now supplied to major global companies.

LG Electronics has recently been betting big on robotics, introducing a slew of new robots and teaming up with wearable robot startup SG Robotics last year. It revealed three new concept models under its CLOi robot brand - Serving Robot, Porter Robot and Shopping Cart Robot - at the annual Consumer Electronics Show 2018 in Las Vegas which kicked off on Tuesday.

By Lee Jae-cheol and Kim Hyo-jin

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