[Paek Jongmin's Shockwave] 'Beyond Dancing Robots'... Humanoid National Team Competition

The "K-Moonshot" Project: Academia and Research Uniting for Humanoid Innovation
KIMM and KIST at the Forefront of Full-Scale K-Humanoid Development

Artificial Intelligence (AI) with a physical body—so-called "physical AI" or humanoid robots—has emerged as a major battleground in the global race for technological supremacy. As the United States' Tesla with its "Optimus" and China's Unitree with its "Humanoid" robots advance at a staggering pace, the South Korean government has also joined the intense pursuit. While the sight of robots dancing, playing soccer, and running marathons may be intimidating, Korean researchers, supported by the government, are confident that robots built and programmed domestically can be competitive.

To this end, the government has launched the "K-Moonshot" project for humanoid development. Following the Autonomously Evolving AI Humanoid Strategic Research Group led by the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) under the Ministry of Science and ICT, a public-private partnership project led by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) is gaining momentum, accelerating the development of the K-humanoid.

Within the scientific community, there are growing expectations that competition and collaboration centering on these two major research institutions will usher in the era of K-humanoids.

KIST researchers are inspecting the hand of the humanoid robot 'Kairos'. Photo by KIST

◆ KIST-LG Alliance Armed with an "Cerebrum-Cerebellum" Structure of Ultra-large AI = On May 18, at KIST in Hongneung, Seoul, leading figures from KIST, LG Electronics, LG AI Research, LG Energy Solution, KAIST, Seoul National University, Korea University, WeRobot, and other domestic academia, industry, and research organizations gathered to form a "national humanoid team." At the "Kickoff Workshop for the Advancement of Core AI Humanoid Technologies through Public-Private Cooperation," participants expressed their ambitions and a strong commitment to lead Korea's humanoid industry.

The core concept is that KIST's humanoid K-PEX serves as the "body," while the AI developed by LG acts as the "soul." In other words, a leading national research institute and a top domestic AI company are joining forces to drive K-humanoid development. KIST and LG AI Research have already been collaborating since early last year to develop K-PEX. Lee Jongwon, head of the humanoid division at KIST, stated, "With the technology gap between the U.S. and China widening, the top domestic experts need to be brought together as a priority," emphasizing the institute's determination to build an independent platform capable of competing in the global market.

The key technology of the KIST alliance, which is backed by approximately 50 billion won from both government and private sources, is "embodied AI." This goes beyond simply mimicking movements to develop a "generative VHLA (Visuo-Haptic-Language-Action) model" that comprehensively understands vision, touch, language, and behavior. Yang Sungwook, principal researcher at KIST, stated, "Our goal is to create a model that learns and evolves through real-world experiences." KIST researcher Lee Isu also commented, "While traditional robots simply followed pre-set trajectories without sensing, now they must be able to adapt to complex real-world environments through environment recognition-based learning technology."

How will a robot respond to an ambiguous command like "tidy up the house"? Solving this challenge is a core task of the project. The reason for needing "general-purpose physical intelligence" is so robots can interpret unclear instructions, make their own judgments, and generate detailed work plans. Researcher Lee Isu predicted, "Ultimately, the key to technological sophistication will be how naturally robots can interact in the complex environments where humans live."

KIST has not yet released footage of K-PEX in motion. One official commented, "Internally, K-PEX has made significant progress," adding that results will be revealed soon.

Participants and officials of the public-private cooperation AI humanoid project kickoff workshop held on the 18th at KIST in Seoul are taking a commemorative photo. Photo by KIST

◆ "Our Technology Must Serve the People and Be Funded by Their Taxes" = One of the most notable aspects of this initiative is the full-scale participation of LG Group, a leading Korean conglomerate, and the "sense of national responsibility" they have demonstrated. Representatives from LG AI Research shared their special sentiments during the announcement. Lee Siheng, Leader at LG AI Research, said, "We don't consider the ultra-large AI 'EXAONE' technology and humanoid brain technology we possess to be solely LG's property," emphasizing, "Since these models are valuable assets created with national taxes, we feel a heavy responsibility to develop them as models that can benefit all citizens, not just serve LG's interests."

Since LG AI Research receives significant support through the government's independent foundation model development project, the intention is to foster EXAONE as a public AI for Korea and contribute to humanoid success. This reflects a strong will to return advanced private-sector technology to the public domain to solve national challenges, even beyond corporate profit. LG Energy Solution is also contributing, presenting a blueprint to apply its all-solid-state battery technology to robots for the first time in the world, reducing fire risk and ensuring safe, long-duration operation. Additionally, research teams from Seoul National University, KAIST, and Korea University have expressed their strong intention to cooperate as a united front from academia.

Oh Sangrok, President of KIST and a robotics expert, bet his pride on the project. He stressed the importance of this public-private partnership, saying, "We now need robots that can perform actual physical work, not just display tricks."

Paek Jongmin, Tech Specialist at The Asia Business Daily, is taking a commemorative photo shaking hands with KIST's humanoid robot K-PEX in November 2025. At that time, K-PEX was unable to initiate a handshake by itself.

◆ KIMM's "Kairos" Competes with Full-Stack Hardware and a Data Factory = While the KIST alliance is focused on the future, the "Autonomously Evolving AI Humanoid Global Top Strategic Research Group" centered around KIMM is more present-oriented. At the 50th anniversary event of the institute in April, KIMM unveiled a surprise guest: the humanoid "Kairos."

The Autonomously Evolving AI Humanoid Global Top Strategic Research Group, with a government budget of 100 billion won, was launched in October last year, bringing together KIMM, ETRI, KITECH, KAIST, and UCLA, among others. Just over six months later, they unveiled a robust robot standing 170 cm tall and weighing 80 kg. Kairos took the stage and shook hands with attendees, signaling the true beginning of the K-humanoid era.

Despite lagging behind the U.S. and China, the KIMM research team, through relentless effort, succeeded in creating a humanoid capable of walking and shaking hands. KIMM explained that, through tireless research day and night, they managed to implement a moving robot, even if not yet perfect. Kairos operates with a brain structured to mimic human decision-making: a "cerebrum" for high-level thinking and a "cerebellum" for real-time motor control.

Kairos aims to demonstrate technology that is immediately deployable in industry and home settings through two practical models: a "humanoid engineer" capable of directly boarding vehicles in automotive inspection lines, and a "humanoid housekeeper" that assists with laundry and organization.

Park Chanhoon, head of the Global Top Strategic Research Group, declared, "We will finally overcome the limitations caused by the lack of a common domestic research platform," announcing plans to upgrade Kairos to version 1.0 and supply it to more than 20 collaborating research institutions nationwide by the first half of 2027. KIMM also plans to build a 1,000-square-meter "open data factory," eventually operating over 100 robots simultaneously and amassing vast datasets for learning.

The total government investment across both research organizations amounts to about 135 billion won. While this is a considerable sum, field experts note that more resources are still needed to fully launch the K-humanoid era. Park also pointed out, "It costs a tremendous amount of money just to deploy robots for data collection in the open data factory." Despite the generous support for AI development, additional funding is required for the development of K-humanoids as well, according to researchers on the ground.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.