"I Was Amazed by the Touch"...A 'Robot Hand' Made for Just 150,000 Won, Not Tens of Millions [No Filter Robot]

Inside Megazone's PAI Lab
Vice President Lee Jaeseok, with experience at LG and Doosan, says,
"We will open a physical world governed by software"
Chairman Lee Juwan of Megazone provides full support

On June 2, at the Megazone Industry-Academia-Research Center in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, I was taken aback the moment I entered the robot research lab, PAI Lab, nestled in one corner. Various shapes of plastic robotic arms caught my eye, shattering the preconception that robots are always made of metal.

A plastic robotic arm directly produced through 3D printing by Jaeseok Lee, Vice President of Megazone. Photo by Paek Jongmin, Tech Specialist

These robotic arms were assembled from parts produced using a 3D printer. When linked to a virtual reality (VR) device, the robotic arms moved exactly as a person demonstrated.

The career of Jaeseok Lee, Vice President of Megazone, who built the robotic arms installed at PAI Lab, is quite unique. After designing smartphone software at LG Electronics, he entered the world of physical artificial intelligence (AI)—in other words, robotics—at Doosan Robotics. Serving as the head of the research lab at Doosan Robotics, he established himself as a veteran robot software expert. After joining Megazone, Lee spent several months working alone to lay the foundation for the company's robotics business.

Jaeseok Lee, Vice President of Megazone, is posing with the robotic arms he created in the lab. Photo by Paek Jongmin, Tech Specialist

Vice President Lee did not hide his passion for the process in which software, once confined to smartphone screens, merges with hardware to create dynamic realities.

"The real value of software is proven when it goes beyond mere code in the virtual world to integrate with and control the physical world. Ultimately, robots are the physical world completed through software."

Lee continued his explanation, pointing to the robotic hands occupying one side of the lab. The robotic hands he created were attached to a desk.

He explained that the production cost for each of these robotic hands, assembled with parts printed directly on a 3D printer, is just over 150,000 won. He also showed several failed attempts, noting that he encountered significant trial and error in the process of manufacturing the robotic hand’s skin through 3D printing.

It is commonly said that the most difficult part to replicate in humanoid robots is the hand. While walking is important, it is not easy to make a robot’s hand move as freely and naturally as a human’s.

Jaeseok Lee, Vice President of Megazone, personally produced this plastic robotic arm through 3D printing. Photo by Paek Jongmin, Tech Specialist

Vice President Lee handed one of the robot hands, made from 3D-printed parts, to the reporter. Even to the touch, it felt closer to a human hand than to cold metal. The fact that such a component could be made for a material cost of just 150,000 won was remarkable.

The lab is still small, but Lee’s ambitions are anything but. He feels a strong sense of responsibility to lead Megazone into the future.

"Currently, we're conducting tests inside the lab, but soon this entire building will become a vast laboratory and stage for robots. Before long, you'll witness robots moving around the building on their own, perceiving their environment, and learning in real time."

Various NVIDIA devices were visible throughout the lab. Lee is developing software for robots using an array of high-end equipment such as the Jetson Thor, Jetson Nano, DGX Spark, and RTX5090. He proudly noted, "Megazone Chairman Juwan Lee provided strong support." Given this commitment from the company's founder, there is an expectation of aggressive business expansion in the future. The lab's equipment allows for the refinement of AI essential to robotics.

The core vision Lee emphasizes for PAI Lab is clear: integrating artificial intelligence through the cloud into a hardware-centric robotics ecosystem.

He also plans to test robots that can seamlessly perform processes like pick-and-place by receiving pre-generated motion data from cloud servers.

Through PAI Lab, Lee aims to build an ecosystem where robots from different manufacturers are connected and centrally controlled via a single server platform called 'Wise.' Currently, PAI Lab is closely collaborating with promising robotics technology companies such as Techman (collaborative robots) and Tesolo (robotic grippers) to drive open innovation.

Jaeseok Lee, Vice President of Megazone, is explaining the robot manufacturing process in his lab. Photo by Paek Jongmin, Tech Specialist

While Lee is currently working alone, he plans to significantly expand the lab soon.

"I plan to release the minimum viable product (MVP) for the Wise platform, which integrates heterogeneous robots, as open-source on platforms like GitHub in the near future. The first goal is to build an open ecosystem where anyone can easily access and use the technology. When advanced customization or full-scale deployment is required at the corporate level, Megazone will provide comprehensive technical support."

Vice President Lee asked that I visit the lab again in the second half of this year, promising to proudly showcase various robots in action by then.

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