event
The center is expected to enhance the manufacturing competitiveness of SMEs and root industry
< A plastic bolt manufactured at the Metaverse Factory Center which opened on November 1 at KAIST in collaboration with Digiforet. >
KAIST opened the ‘Metaverse Factory Experience Center for Manufacturing AI’ on November 1 at the KAIST Bigdata Center for Manufacturing AI. The AI-powered manufacturing metaverse factory will provide real-life experiences for the analysis and application of manufacturing data. Funded by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the center is a collaboration with Digiforet, which donated the software system to KAIST.
The center allows users to experience the collection, analysis, and utilization process of manufacturing data equivalent to that of real manufacturing sites. Users can connect to the service from anywhere in the world using AR/VR/XR equipment and a metaverse solution, which allows small and middle-sized domestic manufacturing companies to overcome the challenges of entering and selling their production lines overseas in the post-COVID-19 era. The platform is an opportunity for such companies to introduce and export their excellent manufacturing techniques.
With the same manufacturing and AI processes of real production sites, the injection molding metaverse factory for plastic screw production runs simulations of the products they will make. Based on the data collection parameters (temperature, pressure, speed, location, time, etc.) built into the Korea AI Manufacturing Platform, an AI-powered SME manufacturing platform, the metaverse factory can detect causes of defects, provide analysis, and guide improvements in productivity and product quality.
Starting with the injection molding equipment metaverse factory, the platform aims to expand into plating, welding, molding, casting, forging, and annealing, and become a root industry to contribute greatly to enhancing the manufacturing competitiveness of Korea’s small and middle-sized root industries.
Il-Joong Kim, head of the KAIST Manufacturing AI Bigdata Center where the metaverse factory is located, said, “To successfully incorporate manufacturing AI into production sites, it is indispensable that various AI algorithms are tested to optimize decisions. The platform allows users to collect manufacturing data and to experience and test AI analysis simultaneously without interrupting the production process, making it highly effective.”
KAIST President Kwang Hyung Lee said, “We will support the close academic-industrial cooperation with Digiforet such as this collaborative for improving SMEs’ competitiveness.”
Digiforet CEO Sunghoon Park, who donated a whole HW/SW interface for the construction of the Metaverse Factory Experience Center for Manufacturing AI, said, “I will do my best to realize the best “Metaverse Factory for Manufacturing AI” in the world by combining the AI and bigdata accumulated at KAIST and Digiforet’s XR metaverse technology.”
< President Kwang Hyung Lee (far left) and participants at the opening ceremony of the Metaverse Factory Experience Center give a demonstration wearing the AR kits. >
-
research KAIST Reveals How the Light-Responsive Molecular Switch Azobenzene Changes Shape
Azobenzene is one of the best-known molecules that can be switched between two forms by light. However, the question of how the molecule moves in the first few picoseconds (trillionths of a second) after it absorbs light has remained unresolved for nearly 50 years. A Korean research team has now shown that, during the initial stage of the reaction, the molecule changes shape through a coordinated motion of the two nitrogen atoms at its center, while its two benzene rings stay nearly in place.
2026-10-02 -
research KAIST’s World-First Full-Course Robot Marathon Completion Published in Nature
A quadruped robot ran 42.195 km, a distance that is not easy even for humans to complete, without replacing its battery. KAIST researchers have developed this world-first achievement into design principles for long-distance operation, published the results in Nature, and are now moving toward commercializing robots that can be used in real industrial environments. KAIST (President Choongsik Bae) announced on the September 24 that the long-distance running technology of RAIBO2, a quadruped rob
2026-09-28 -
event KAIST Launches Korea's First Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) Research Institute
Moving beyond today’s AI, which excels at solving problems similar to those encountered during training, KAIST has launched a dedicated research institute to develop foundational technologies for Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) that can make decisions and adapt independently when faced with unfamiliar problems and environments. KAIST announced that it officially launched the AGI Research Institute under the KAIST AI Research Institute (AIRI) on September 18, following the completi
2026-09-22 -
people KAIST Names Former Samsung Electronics Chairman and CEO Oh Hyun Kwon as Chair of Its Board of Trustees
KAIST announced that its Board of Trustees elected Oh Hyun Kwon, former Chairman and CEO of Samsung Electronics and Chairman of the Orange Planet startup foundation, as its new chair at the board’s 298th extraordinary meeting in Seoul on September 21, 2026. Prior to the election, Kichul Cha, a KAIST trustee and CEO of InBody, had served as acting chair since the term of former Chair Myung Ja Kim ended in late June. Kwon earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Seo
2026-09-22 -
research KAIST Develops Smartphone AI That Uses Past Solutions to Tackle Similar Problems
A new AI technology has been developed that retains and reuses knowledge, much like writing down a solution in a notebook and applying it to similar problems rather than asking an expert for help each time. Researchers at KAIST have developed a way for small AI models running on smartphones to store and reuse knowledge from a large server model. The approach reduced server calls by an average of 55.61% compared with a non-cumulative approach while maintaining high accuracy, suggesting that mob
2026-09-21