Robot AI Moves Toward Self-Reliance... Korea Embarks on Localization of Physical AI World Models (Comprehensive)

Kick-off Briefing for Physical AI Leading Technology Development Project

340 Billion Won Investment Over Two Years; Targeting World-Class Technology

Developing Proprietary Models; Securing Core World Model Technologies

The government is embarking on the localization of world models, considered a core technology of physical artificial intelligence (AI). By localizing key infrastructure that has traditionally relied on foreign technologies, the aim is to achieve technological self-reliance while also enhancing competitiveness in the global market.

Ryu Jemyung, Second Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated at the kick-off briefing session for the 'Physical AI Leading Technology Development' project held at LG Science Park in Magok, Gangseo-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of the 9th, "Securing large volumes of high-quality data is essential to implement highly advanced general-purpose models," and added, "We have officially launched the Physical AI Leading Technology Development project to develop foundational technologies with our own hands."

Ryoo Jemyung, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, poses with LG Electronics' artificial intelligence (AI) home robot "CLOi" at the kickoff meeting for the "Physical AI Leading Technology Development" project held at LG Science Park, Magok, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 9th. Photo by Lee Myunghwan

This project focuses on localizing the core technologies of physical AI, which have had a high dependency on foreign solutions. Vice Minister Ryu emphasized, "Physical AI is a national core technology that will change the paradigm of the Republic of Korea," and added, "Independently securing the core infrastructure for physical AI is the starting point for Korea to become a global leader in this field."

Physical AI is one of the key missions of the 'K-Moonshot' project, an AI-based national innovation initiative announced by the government earlier this year. It is regarded as a future technology poised to transform every industrial sector and is also considered a strategic technology directly linked to data sovereignty and national security. As it operates in real-world environments, malfunctions can lead to risks, making sufficient pre-training and validation in virtual environments necessary.

The specific goals of the project are to secure proprietary world model technologies and to validate domestically developed simulator technologies linked to these models. A world model refers to a model that understands the real world and predicts changes to support AI learning and decision-making.

Ten organizations from industry, academia, and research institutes are participating in the project, including LG Electronics as the lead institution, Mind AI, Holiday Robotics, Robotis, CrowdWorks, Alchera, KT, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Seoul National University, and the Telecommunications Technology Association of Korea.

Vice Minister Ryu mentioned that Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, met with Korean physical AI-related organizations such as LG Electronics, Hyundai Motor, and Seoul National University during his visit to Korea, saying, "(CEO Huang’s activities) demonstrate how highly NVIDIA values the capabilities of Korea’s physical AI ecosystem." He added, "Vice Prime Minister Bae Kyunghoon also held a one-on-one meeting with CEO Huang to discuss cooperation measures for enhancing competitiveness in physical AI."

The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to invest a total of 34 billion won over the next two years, beginning this year, with the goal of achieving world-class performance in a short period through research and development (R&D). Specifically, the plan is to improve the real-world simulation performance of world models and the transfer performance to robot foundation models, ultimately boosting the final operation success rate of actual robots by more than 20 percentage points compared to cases where world models are not applied. This target exceeds the current global top level.

To achieve this, the project will establish a validation pipeline that includes rapid world model training, linking with robot foundation models, empirical and performance evaluations, and case analysis and retraining. Over two years, four rounds of iterative validation will be conducted to raise the level of technological completeness. In the final stage, the goal is to produce results with commercialization potential through real-world demonstrations.

The 'AI Walker' robot by Robotis is following the researcher’s actions to move objects. Photo by Lee Myunghwan

Kim Youngjun, Head of the AI Research Center at LG Electronics, who leads the consortium, pointed out current limitations in physical AI technology, including physical consistency, continuous task execution, and the need for data retraining. Kim explained, "To fundamentally address these issues, a world model that internalizes an understanding of the physical world is essential," and added, "By leveraging data and experience centered on manufacturing sites, we can develop highly sophisticated models that enhance competitiveness."

Vice Minister Ryu stated, "Just as the researchers who developed the electronic switching system (TDX) in the past achieved the miracle of localization with utmost determination, if we approach this project with the same resolve and sense of mission, Korea can emerge as a global leader in physical AI."

Meanwhile, during the kick-off briefing session, LG Electronics’ AI home robot 'Cloi' and Robotis’ 'AI Walker' robot demonstrated interactions with humans.

LG Electronics' home AI robot 'CLOi' in operation. Photo by Myunghwan Lee

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