Robotis (108490.KQ) is expanding beyond hardware development and supply of humanoid robots and related components into software. Building on its in-house capability in robot actuators, the company aims to provide integrated solutions needed to build humanoid robots.
Kim Byoung-soo, chief executive of Robotis, said the company will "reinvent itself as a company that provides not only actuators but full humanoid solutions," in an interview with The Seoul Economic Daily on the 7th at the company's headquarters in Gangseo District, Seoul. The strategy is to package the technology and solutions required for humanoid development, drawing on experience accumulated as one of the earliest entrants into humanoid development in South Korea.
"The key to making a humanoid move is how smoothly the AI model applied to the robot operates," the CEO said. "What matters is control based on torque, or rotational force, rather than the conventional position and speed command system." Holding both the actuators and the control technology that determine torque control performance is the foundation for Robotis to expand into integrated humanoid solutions. The company recently unveiled Dynamixel-Q, an actuator designed for humanoids, and AI Sapiens, a bipedal humanoid built with it.
Investment in Robotis AI, a subsidiary handling the autonomous mobile robot business, is an extension of the same strategy. The CEO plans to invest part of the 88.7 billion won secured from a recent sale of his stake in Robotis into Robotis AI. The view is that software applied to autonomous mobile robots, along with data accumulated in the field, will become an asset in expanding the service range of humanoids. "It is about putting the software that operates it on top of the hardware, which is the delivery robot," the CEO said. "In the end, system integration functions applied to delivery robots will be needed not only for delivery robots but also in the process of advancing toward humanoids." That is why Robotis AI has advanced its autonomous mobile robot Gaemi through five generations, accumulating related technology and data at actual service sites.
The CEO said competition with Chinese companies is ultimately unavoidable in the global robot market. "To succeed in the Chinese market, you need overwhelming performance compared with products from Chinese companies, along with price competitiveness," he said. "We will first secure product competitiveness and business references in markets outside China, then step up our push into the Chinese market." In particular, the company plans to raise output through its plant in Uzbekistan while broadening its overseas business base to secure competitiveness in both price and quality.
Robotis plans to build an actuator supply base that can respond ahead of rising demand in the humanoid market. "The main task is to have sufficient production capacity in place and secure price competitiveness in time for the shift into large-scale mass production," the CEO said.
