Samsung SDS (018260) has assembled a "robot dream team" of domestic and overseas companies with specialized expertise across robot hardware, intelligence and data. The move reflects the nature of physical artificial intelligence, where no dominant standard has emerged and capabilities are scattered across many companies at each stage of the value chain, making it difficult for any single firm to pull ahead. Industry watchers say the technical strengths of Samsung SDS's partners offer a window into the direction of Samsung Group's robot transformation (RX) business.
Samsung SDS recently established the "Team REX (Robotics EXcellence)" partnership with 10 robotics companies, according to industry sources on the 12th. The aim is to work with firms holding distinctive technology in each domain, designing optimal robot combinations for individual manufacturing processes while handling operation, maintenance and management.
Partners Include Chinese Firm Skilled in Robotic Hands
In robot hardware, the participants are AiRobot, Genesis AI, Holiday Robotics, Rainbow Robotics (277810) and Wuji Technology. Wuji Technology is a Chinese company with world-class expertise in robotic hands. Its "Wuji Hand" actively controls each of 20 joints and delivers strong gripping power despite a lightweight structure weighing less than 600 grams. It can also be attached to a variety of humanoid robots. "When it comes to robotic hand technology, no one can catch up with China," Samsung SDS said, explaining why it entered a strategic partnership with Wuji Technology.
Holiday Robotics, founded by CEO Song Ki-young, who previously founded Sualab, is a Korean startup developing "FRIDAY," a humanoid robot for manufacturing. Its strength lies in precise manipulation tasks such as gripping parts and adjusting their position, based on tactile sensing and force-aware control. The company drew attention recently after raising 155 billion won in a Series A round, the largest in Korea.
AiRobot is developing "ALICE 5," an industrial bipedal humanoid. The company develops everything in-house, from actuators to joints, frames and control algorithms for walking and physical AI. It is targeting deployment of large robots in the 170-centimeter class at demanding sites such as shipyards and construction projects.
Genesis AI is a U.S. physical AI company developing both a general-purpose robot called "Eno" and a robot foundation model, "GENE-26.5." Rainbow Robotics, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics (005930), was founded by the team behind the "Hubo" robot and offers a broad product lineup including collaborative robots, quadrupeds, autonomous mobile robots (AMR) and mobile dual-arm robots.
Walden Robotics, Backed by Samsung, Partners on Robot Brains
In intelligence, which serves as the robot's "brain," Real World, RoboForce and Walden Robotics have joined Team REX. Among them, Walden Robotics is seen as a core partner. Founded in January this year by researchers from the Toyota Research Institute, it received a strategic investment from Samsung Venture Investment in June. Walden Robotics had been working with Rainbow Robotics even before receiving the Samsung investment, according to sources.
The company is developing general-purpose robots based on large behavior models (LBM). Rather than simply repeating preset motions, the robots learn and refine new behaviors through actual tasks. They have already been deployed at Toyota plants in North America.
Real World is a Korean startup that developed "RLDX-1," a robot foundation model (RFM) aimed at dexterous hand manipulation. Unlike conventional vision-language-action (VLA) models that mainly process vision and language, it also handles touch, force (torque), changes in motion over time and long-term memory, enabling contact-intensive tasks such as gripping, pouring and using tools. The company is also building a benchmark with Nvidia to evaluate the precision manipulation capabilities of humanoid robots.
RoboForce is a U.S. company that developed "TITAN," a general-purpose AI robot for harsh and hazardous industrial sites including solar farms, data centers, mines, ports and factories. It combines its own robot foundation model with real-world and simulation data, aiming to supply industrial robotic labor.
Config Specializes in Robot Data, Ndot Light in Simulation
In data, widely seen as a bottleneck for physical AI, Korea's Config Intelligence has partnered with Samsung SDS. Founded by a professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and former Waymo staff, Config Intelligence has been building up behavior data. It uses its own engine to convert data from human-performed tasks into high-precision behavior data that robots can learn from, and used this to develop "CFG-1," an RFM for dual-arm manipulation. The company is known for securing seed investment from major Korean conglomerates including Samsung, Hyundai Motor, LG and SK.
In simulation, Ndot Light has joined Team REX. The company was co-founded by CEO Park Jin-young, who led three-dimensional (3D) launcher development at Samsung Electronics, and Chief Technology Officer Kim Sun-tae, who led AI and 3D engine development at NAVER and Samsung Electronics. Ndot Light has developed a solution that lets robots immediately use actual factories and objects in simulation for learning. It automates the creation of 3D data that reflects physical properties such as mass and friction, along with joint structures and collision boundaries, and links this to Nvidia's "Omniverse" simulation platform to mass-produce high-quality 3D simulation data.
Industry observers expect Samsung SDS to expand its collaboration with companies holding physical AI expertise beyond the initial 10 partners. With Samsung Electronics developing its own humanoid robot, the move is read as Samsung Group's bid to secure the initiative in the physical AI market, with Samsung SDS supporting cooperation with technically capable firms. "Even China, currently the front-runner in the robot market, does not have the technology across every field of robotics," an industry official said. "Competition to seize the initiative in the physical AI market through partnerships with a range of companies will intensify."
