Samsung Electronics (005930) is accelerating prototype development with the goal of unveiling its own humanoid robot at CES 2027, the world's largest electronics and information technology show, to be held in Las Vegas in January next year. The move follows Hyundai Motor Group's presentation of its new Atlas earlier this year, and puts Samsung Electronics on stage with a new humanoid at next year's CES. Competition to lead the global humanoid market is intensifying.
Samsung Electronics is preparing a prototype for next year's CES under the Robotics (RX) Business Team, which reports directly to Roh Tae-moon, president of the Device eXperience (DX) division, according to industry sources on the 7th. A senior industry official said Samsung Electronics is moving faster because the commercialization of humanoids is expected to arrive sooner as artificial intelligence advances.
Yoon Jang-hyun, a software and platform specialist who serves as chief technology officer and president of the DX division, is simultaneously heading both the hardware and AI software development teams within the RX Business Team, raising the level of completion. Having a single executive oversee both the hardware team, which handles mechanical actuation, and the AI software team, which handles perception and judgment, is unusual even by industry standards.
Inside and outside Samsung, the arrangement is seen as a move to speed up development by unifying leadership of the AI software that serves as the robot's brain and the hardware that forms its body from the earliest stage of development. Developing the brain and the body separately and then combining them cannot keep pace with rapidly advancing AI technology. To commercialize humanoids quickly, Samsung Electronics has also secured a number of patents covering hip joint design technology, the backbone of humanoid movement, as well as next-generation robotic hands and AI-based motion control.
Samsung Electronics is pursuing humanoids on a two-track basis alongside its subsidiary Rainbow Robotics (277810). Rainbow Robotics is focusing on increasing the maximum payload and working radius of the RB-Y2, a dual-arm industrial robot whose prototype was shown in April. Depending on development progress, an improved model could be released as early as November at Robot World 2026.
An industry official said Rainbow Robotics will take charge of industrial robots for field use, while Samsung Electronics will enter the global market by presenting a blueprint for a general-purpose humanoid at next year's CES. Asked by Seoul Economic Daily whether it plans to show a humanoid prototype at next year's CES, Samsung Electronics said it could not confirm.
