Massage chair digital conversion acceleration… 'Robot AI' Aiming for the Super Gap

Jo Su-hyeon, head of Bodyfriend Medical R&D Center, is conducting a product demonstration at a press conference for the launch of ‘Phantom Robo’ held at Bodyfriend Dogok Tower in Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the 6th. [사진=바디프랜드]

The massage chair industry is on the verge of digital transformation. The strategy is to target the market gap by launching massage chairs equipped with systems such as robots and artificial intelligence (AI) assistants. It is analyzed that fierce competition in the domestic massage chair market, which is expected to grow to 1.5 trillion won this year, is on the right track.

According to the industry on the 14th, Bodyfriend launched the industry’s first ‘Phantom Robo’, a robot type massage chair in which the left and right leg massagers move individually earlier this month.

Ji Seong-gyu, vice president of Bodyfriend, attended the launch event in person and introduced the product, attracting attention. Vice-Chairman Ji said, “We will grow into a digital healthcare platform that collects biometric data with AI while receiving a massage and connects it to customized health services, and furthermore, we will grow into a home healthcare platform.”

The Phantom Robo has a design concept of ‘wearing’ one on each left and right feet, breaking away from the stereotype of simply ‘sit’ on a massage chair. It has the appearance of a robot that is worn like the robot suit of the movie character Iron Man.

As the left and right leg massage parts move freely, it is possible to stretch core and lower body muscles that were previously difficult to massage. Firmware updates are also possible via Wi-Fi. The whole body heating function is also applied.

The Phantom Robo was created in collaboration with orthopedic surgeons, neurologists, and rehabilitation medicine specialists belonging to the Bodyfriend Medical R&D Center. It is known that Bodyfriend will apply ‘robo walking technology’, which moves two legs separately, to some product groups in the future.

Kojima plans to release a massage chair that works with Samsung Electronics’ AI assistant Bixby and Internet of Things (IoT) platform SmartThings as early as this year. With this product, you can control the massage chair’s power, mode settings, and massage intensity with Bixby’s voice commands. It is expected that the inconvenience of users who have difficulty using their hands while putting their arms in the massage chair will be resolved.

In addition, if the massage chair is registered with SmartThings, it can be integrated with Samsung smart home appliances such as TV, vacuum cleaner, washing machine, and air purifier. Previously, Kojima unveiled a prototype of the massage chair at the 2019 Samsung Developers Conference (SDC).

In March, Kojima also introduced the voice recognition massage chair ‘Kota’ that can control the operation of the massage chair through 17 commands. When you say a command for a desired function, such as ‘Massage Start’, ‘Morning Course’, ‘Dinner Course’, or ‘Golf Course’, it is automatically recognized and the corresponding massage function is executed.

Kojima voice recognition massage chair ‘Kota’ [사진=코지마]

Hutech has expanded its product lineup to home appliances and vehicle products. At the beginning of last month, the company added ‘home appliance manufacturing and wholesale/retail business’, ‘electrical/electronic product manufacturing and wholesale/retail business’, and ‘health device manufacturing and wholesale/retail business’ to its business purpose.

In January, at the world’s largest consumer electronics and information technology (IT) exhibition ‘CES 2022’ held in Las Vegas, USA, ‘Sonic Vibration Car Seat’ was also introduced. Hutech plans to expand its products such as eye massager, foot massager, and wave ball vibration massager to individually sold products.

◆ 8 trillion won in the global massage chair market… R&D wins

According to Frost & Sullivan, a global market research firm, the global massage chair market is currently estimated at 8 trillion won. The size of the domestic massage chair market surpassed 1 trillion won last year, according to the industry. The market, which was worth 350 billion won in 2015, has nearly tripled in six years.

The massage chair market is growing rapidly due to the global aging trend and the COVID-19 pandemic. The industry predicts that the massage chair market will grow to 1.5 trillion won this year.

As competition between companies intensifies, the importance of R&D is also increasing. Bodyfriend, the No. 1 massage chair market, has invested 80.8 billion won in R&D over the past five years.

Last year, R&D expenditure was 23.8 billion won, up 34.5% from the previous year. The ratio of R&D expenses to sales is 4.03%. This is higher than the 2.27% ratio of R&D expenses to sales of mid-sized companies, as reported in the ‘2020 R&D Activity Survey Report’ issued by the Ministry of Science and ICT in January.

A Bodyfriend official said, “We plan to invest a total of 100 billion won over the next five years to strengthen global competitiveness and continue the technological gap.”