Yujin Robot (056080.KQ) is expanding beyond logistics transport automation built around autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) into the automation of manufacturing and logistics tasks using humanoid robots.
The company said on the 14th that it will verify whether humanoid and physical artificial intelligence technologies can be applied on-site through a state-funded project under the 2026 Robot Industry Technology Development Program, managed by the Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology (KEIT) under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
At the core of the expansion is combining the autonomous driving, control and system integration technologies accumulated in its AMR business with robotic arms, vision and physical AI, widening the scope of automation from moving goods to carrying out actual work. Yujin Robot plans to develop technology that links a humanoid's movement, perception, manipulation and task planning, and to apply it first to jobs people have handled directly, such as picking, sorting, loading, inspection and equipment operation.
The company is also building an integrated system that is not tied to any single humanoid model. The idea is to connect humanoids suited to each site with existing AMRs, automation equipment and software, offering an integrated automation solution rather than selling robots as standalone products.
To that end, Yujin Robot will use an actual distribution center as a testing ground to develop technology that allows humanoids to perform multiple tasks in sequence, and to verify both on-site feasibility and cost-effectiveness. It is also broadening cooperation with research institutes and universities at home and abroad, and is currently pursuing technical partnerships within a global research network that includes the Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States.
"Yujin Robot's humanoid business is a strategy to expand our existing AMR-centered robotization business one step further, into the area of task execution," Yujin Robot CEO Park Sung-joo said. "We will use this state-funded project as an important basis for demonstration, verifying the technology and its business viability in the field, and will go on to cultivate humanoids and physical AI as a new growth engine for the company."
