KAIST

KAIST announced on September 16 that it is gaining attention as a "cradle of Korean robotics" as various robot startups founded on campus have recently succeeded in attracting investment.

Rainbow Robotics, founded by Professor Jun-Ho Oh of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, set a new milestone in the robotics industry by successfully going public with its world-class humanoid technology. Following this, Angel Robotics, a company specializing in rehabilitation and medical robots founded by Professor Kyung-chul Kong of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, also went public, making the achievements of KAIST-born robot startups more visible.

Following in their footsteps, a number of other startups are on a rapid growth trajectory after their founding in various technological fields, including quadrupedal, collaborative, and wearable robots, as well as autonomous walking. These include Pureun Robotics (2021, Hyunchul Ham, MS from Mechanical Engineering), Wero Robotics (2021, Yeonbaek Lee, MS from Mechanical Engineering), Raion Robotics (2023, Professor Jaemin Hwangbo, Mechanical Engineering), Triangle Robotics (2023, Jinhyuk Choi, PhD candidate in Computer Science), URobotics (2024, Byungho Yoo, PhD from Electrical Engineering), and Diden Robotics (2024, Junha Kim, PhD from Mechanical Engineering).

In particular, Raion Robotics, founded by Professor Jaemin Hwangbo of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, recently secured a Series A investment of 23 billion KRW from leading domestic investors, including SBVA, Company K Partners, FuturePlay, KDB Capital, IBK, and IBK Venture Capital.

< (Left) Raibo1, (Right) Raibo2 participating in a marathon >

Raion Robotics' flagship product, the quadrupedal robot 'Raibo,' is equipped with reinforcement learning-based AI, enabling stable walking on uneven terrain. It also boasts a distinctive performance with an 8-hour operating time. Recently, it successfully completed a full marathon (42.195 km) alongside a human, proving its durability in real-world conditions and attracting attention from the global robotics industry.

This trend is also evident in URobotics, a startup from Professor Hyun Myung's lab in the Department of Electrical Engineering. URobotics recently secured a 3.5 billion KRW seed investment and was selected for the 1.5 billion KRW Deep Tech TIPS program, accelerating its growth in the field of autonomous walking robots. The company is preparing to apply its technology to various industrial sites, including defense, construction, logistics, and smart cities, by internalizing its control and autonomous walking technologies and applying them to humanoids. The industry is already taking note of its high growth potential from the early stages.

< (Left) URobotics' general-purpose autonomous walking solution being tested on a quadrupedal robot, (Right) Developing core spatial intelligence technology >

< URobotics' autonomous walking solution >

Diden Robotics, a startup from Professor Haewon Park's lab in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, is leading the industrial application and commercialization of walking mobile robot technology. The company's key competitive advantages lie in its hardware design capabilities through the internalization of core components, advanced Physical AI technology based on reinforcement learning, and a special magnetic foot technology. Robots developed with this technology can move freely on vertical steel walls and ceilings to perform high-difficulty tasks like welding and non-destructive testing. Based on this technology, Diden Robotics attracted a 7 billion KRW investment in a Pre-A round and has signed supply contracts with major shipyards, proving its commercial viability.

< (Left) Diden Robotics' mobile robot DIDEN30 for shipbuilding sites (Right) Various work scenarios inside a ship block >

KAIST recently secured 10.5 billion KRW in government funding by participating as the lead institution in the Deep Tech Scale-up Valley project. With this funding, it plans to create a virtuous cycle among companies, technology, and talent in the robotics industry and emerge as a next-generation robotics hub. URobotics and Angel Robotics are also participating in this project.

Bae Hyun-min, head of the Startup Center, said, "Researchers from KAIST are entering the global stage through challenging startups. The Startup Center will actively support them to help KAIST establish itself as a 'hub for deep tech startups'."

KAIST President Kwang Hyung Lee emphasized, "KAIST is a cradle of innovation that creates social value through startups, beyond education and research. The achievements of these robot startups show that KAIST is at the center of leading the paradigm of the global robotics industry. This also aligns with KAIST's vision of preparing for the era of 'Physical AI,' which fuses artificial intelligence with the physical world. KAIST will continue to strengthen its global technological leadership through innovation that connects academia and industry.