Samsung introduces smart IoT fridge ‘Family Hub’

A "smart" refrigerator adopting IoT (Internet of things) has made debut. Samsung Electronics held a launching ceremony for the "Family Hub," a 850-liter smart refrigerator that integrates diverse functions including shopping and entertainment on top of food storage, at its Seocho headquarters in Seoul on Wednesday, and launched the new product in the domestic market.

Based on IoT technology, the state-of-the-art fridge comes with functions such as "food management" that supports buying food items and cooking, "family communication" that allows leaving voice or text messages on the built-in display on its door, and "kitchen entertainment" that enables watching TV or listen to music.

“The Family Hub, which is arguably armed with ‘fresh innovation’ in the refrigerator field, will transform the kitchen, which was only used for dining and cooking, into a center of family living,” said Seo Byeong-sam, division chief of Samsung’s home appliance business.

Inside of the Family Hub, there are three video cameras so that people can check what’s inside the fridge with their mobile phones anytime. When they do grocery shopping, they don’t need to try to remember how many eggs are left and whether all milk has been consumed. If people set the shelf life of foodstuffs stored in the fridge, it can inform them of the expiration date of food items, and help buying food with the WiFi-enabled 21.5-inch LED touchscreen.

The Family Hub offers video presentations in which famed chefs introduce their cooking methods, plus more than 10,000 recipes for common dishes. Consumers can easily cook while listening to recipes from the speaker mounted on the Family Hub. In attendance at the launching ceremony were officials from big retailers including E-Mart and Lotte Mart, and IT companies such as Bugs Music and Naver that supported the evolution of the Family Hub through collaboration with Samsung Electronics.

“Unlike conventional refrigerators, from which consumers could not expect improved services after purchase, the Family Hub refrigerator will provide consumers with newly added services whenever our partnerships expand,” Samsung Vice President Seo said. “We will continue to expand partnerships for service and contents worldwide.” The price of the refrigerator is 6.49 million won (5,650 U.S. dollars).

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