LG showcases spherical ice and fridge AI at CES 2020
Learn about LG's newest fridge tech for 2020
Credit:
LG
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At this year's CES 2020, LG will show off two new InstaView smart fridges. These fridges, true to their name, feature glass doors to allow a quick scan of your fridge's inventory with the door closed. This design helps reduce the amount of warm air flowing into the fridge, which should aid in maintaining even temperatures. The glass panel also doubles as a smart display, so when you're not checking to see how many eggs you have left, you could double-check your recipe to see if you can still make that cake without a grocery trip. We've had InstaView fridges in our labs before and we thought it was a unique feature that was maybe a bit too expensive at the time. We're still waiting on pricing information, but we're interested to see if the technology has gotten better and cheaper, potentially taking InstaView from novelty to must-have feature.
They're also showcasing how one of their fridges can make fancy ice. Spherical ice. Besides looking cool, spherical ice melts more slowly as it has a lower surface area than a traditional cube or those novelty fossil ice cubes you got as a gift. While neat, this technology technically already debuted at the end of last year—though we still haven't put it through the paces in our labs yet.
Don't you want a drawer of ice orbs? Like a winter wizard?
The big news, however, pertains to existing InstaView fridges getting a 2020 upgrade that's going to seriously overhaul their smart features. These upgrades will allow the fridges to use internal cameras to track different foodstuffs as they enter and exit your fridge. The goal is to allow the fridge to automatically manage some of the upkeep associated with food, such as alerting you when ingredients are about to go bad, suggesting recipes based on what you have in stock, and writing shopping lists for you.
We're skeptical as always whenever we hear about new technologies coming to existing products, especially in the world of appliances. Fridges have been large cold boxes since their invention, and in that time not a whole lot has changed and stuck. That being said, it's easy to extrapolate how these new feature could be helpful. It's easy to envision your WiFi-enabled fridge noticing you're out of a few key ingredients and automatically placing an order to your grocery delivery service of choice to ensure you're stocked up for the big party. While this isn't the current state of the tech, we're hopeful for where smart fridges will go in the near future.
We'll be covering CES 2020 this whole week, so check back early and often to discover the latest and greatest in tech innovations!
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