Doosan Robotics said Tuesday it had secured two major Korean government R&D deals to build South Korea’s first physical AI manufacturing platform by embedding domestic semiconductors into collaborative robots.
The government-backed projects will receive 68.1 billion won ($50.7 million) in subsidies through the Industry Ministry and the Industry Ministry and the Korea Planning & Evaluation Institute Industrial Technology, with Doosan providing another 30.8 billion won.
For the first project, Doosan will develop an on-device AI system-on-chip equipped with a neural processing unit and real-time control functions over a period of 4 1/2 years.
By processing multimodal data — including vision, force, torque and voice — in the robot itself, without relying on external cloud servers or PCs, the company aims to eliminate latency and security risks for sensitive sectors such as defense, nuclear energy and biopharmaceuticals.
Doosan Robotics will develop three cobot models that can each carry 5-kilogram, 10-kilogram and 20-kilogram payloads, and an omnidirectional, dual-arm industrial humanoid featuring the chip, targeting commercialization by 2031.
The second 45-month project integrates cobots, AI and digital twin technology to automate high-precision welding for nuclear energy components. By mimicking human welders’ techniques, the system targets a 95 percent motion match rate and a 50 percent reduction in production time.
Field trials will take place at Doosan Enerbility’s nuclear equipment manufacturing facilities, focusing on tack welding, preheating, and main welding processes to secure nuclear quality assurance certifications. The technology will then be expanded into the shipbuilding and defense sectors.
“Industrial labor shortages and aging skilled workforces cannot be solved by scaling up traditional automation,” stated Doosan Robotics CEO Park In-won. “By combining on-device AI semiconductors with our cobot platform, we will turn Physical AI into a core competitive edge for Korean manufacturing.”
hyejin2@heraldcorp.com
