[S리포트] Humanoid robots, our country’s technology level

As humanoid robots are emerging as a future food business, suggestions are being made to develop the domestic advanced robot industry and enhance its competitiveness. The photo shows Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Choi Sang-mok touring the research facilities of Rainbow Robotics, an advanced robot company, on April 8. /Photo=News 1
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As the development of humanoid robots is accelerating, especially in the United States and China, it is pointed out that flexible use of robot technology and domestic production of parts are necessary for the development of the domestic robot industry and enhancement of competitiveness.

The conventional perception that humanoid robots are relatively less commercially viable than their technological prowess is being shed. Tesla, Agility Robotics, and Ubiquitous are spurring commercialization by conducting factory utilization tests of their self-developed humanoid robots. There are opinions that since a lot of capital and time are needed for research and development until humanoids are commercially utilized, flexibility in commercializing and utilizing the technology in various fields is needed.

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Simple development is not enough… Need to secure business viability through technology expansion and grafting

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/optimize/” alt=”Boston Dynamics, a robotics affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, is implementing a business strategy that focuses on deploying the quadruped walking robot Spot into production sites. The photo shows Spot inspecting the site at Hyundai Motor Company’s Singapore production base. /Photo courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group” style=”margin:0 auto;display:block;” class=” “/>Boston Dynamics, a robotics affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, is implementing a business strategy that focuses on deploying the quadruped walking robot Spot into production sites. The photo shows Spot inspecting the site at Hyundai Motor Company’s Singapore production base. /Photo courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group
Honda, a pioneer in humanoid robots, developed the world’s first humanoid robot, Asimo, in 2000. Honda is incorporating the technology derived from Asimo into its main businesses. Asimo became the foundation for Honda Sensing, a driving assistance system, and medical walking assistance robots. Technology for walking on uneven surfaces has been incorporated into motorcycles and scooters. Object recognition and autonomous movement capabilities are being applied to autonomous driving technology.

Among the existing humanoid robots, ‘Atlas’ is considered to have the most advanced technology, and is a robot from Boston Dynamics, a robotics affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group. Hyundai is focusing on a strategy to deploy ‘Spot’, a quadruped walking robot with higher efficiency and cost competitiveness than Atlas, to manufacturing sites. Hyundai plans to deploy ‘Spot’ in factories to collect data or perform exploration tasks.

Since Hyundai Motor Company acquired Boston Dynamics, it has transformed into a full-fledged robot company. Since meeting Hyundai Motor Company, Boston Dynamics has been building a diverse portfolio of commercial robots by utilizing the technological know-how it has accumulated over 30 years. Following Spot, it has introduced logistics robots such as ‘Stretch’, establishing itself as a new growth engine for the Hyundai Motor Group.

Rainbow Robotics was founded by researchers at KAIST Hubo Lab who created Korea’s first humanoid robot, Hubo. Hubo Lab won the DARPA Robotics Challenge 2015, a disaster relief robot competition hosted by the U.S. Department of Defense. They have a full lineup of robots, including Hubo, collaborative robots, quadruped robots, serving robots, and autonomous robots, and have been recognized for their business potential.

Samsung Electronics, which recognized Rainbow Robotics’ competitiveness, invested 86.7 billion won last year to secure a 14.99% stake. It has also secured a call option (purchase right) that can secure up to a 59.94% stake, making the acquisition highly likely.

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The development of the robot industry requires reduction in the cost of parts…

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/optimize/” alt=”As the government announced its ‘plan for the development of the advanced robot industry’ last year, voices are rising in the industry for the need for domestic production of robot parts and cost reduction. Kang Kyung-sung, 1st Vice Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, is presiding over the ‘2nd meeting of the Advanced Robot Economy Task Force (TF)’ held at the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation on June 26. /Photo=Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy” style=”margin:0 auto;display:block;” class=” “/>As the government announced its ‘plan for the development of the advanced robot industry’ last year, voices are rising in the industry for the need for domestic production of robot parts and cost reduction. Kang Kyung-sung, 1st Vice Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, is presiding over the ‘2nd meeting of the Advanced Robot Economy Task Force (TF)’ held at the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation on June 26. /Photo=Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy
Last year, the government announced a plan to distribute more than 1 million robots across all industries by 2030 through the ‘Advanced Robot Industry Vision and Strategy’. The vision presented included ▲increasing domestic production of parts ▲training specialized personnel ▲nurturing star companies ▲expanding the size of the robot industry ▲increasing robot density.

The robot industry believes that the domestic parts cluster base is weak and urgently needs improvement. According to the ‘Advanced Robot Industry Vision and Strategy’ report published last year by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and other related ministries, the localization rate of parts is around 44%. Considering that 99% of the 2,500 domestic robot companies are small and medium-sized enterprises and 70% are companies with sales of less than 1 billion won, collaboration with Chinese parts companies is necessary until humanoid technology gets on track.

“China may be weak in high-tech sectors, but it has a powerful weapon called production capacity,” an industry insider said. “Companies that have not yet internalized components need to secure price competitiveness through collaboration with Chinese companies.”

Han Jae-kwon, a professor of robotics at Hanyang University’s Erica Robotics Department, emphasizes that investment should be made in companies that have the actual technology to domestically produce parts.

He said, “Chinese robot products are overwhelmingly competitive in terms of price,” and “there are increasing numbers of companies in Korea that import Chinese products or assemble and sell parts as dealerships.” He emphasized, “Unlike other robots, humanoids are an industry with a large ripple effect,” and “in order not to fall behind like drones, we need to foster the parts and materials industry.”