Naurobotics Selected for Government's "Physical AI" Demonstration Project... Accelerating Industrial Humanoid Commercialization

Combining Domestic NPU and VLA Models for Field Validation in Manufacturing and Logistics
Project Worth Approximately 2.4 Billion Won
Developing Mobile Dual-Arm Robots by 2027
Aiming for Autonomous Picking, Sorting, and Transport

Prototype image of a mobile dual-arm robot. Naurobotics

Naurobotics, a company specializing in intelligent robots, is accelerating its industrial humanoid business after being selected for the government’s Physical AI demonstration project. The company’s strategy is to combine domestic artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors and AI models with its own robot technology, validate them in real manufacturing and logistics sites, and secure commercialization references.

Naurobotics announced that it was chosen as one of two new Physical AI demonstration projects under the domestic AI semiconductor-based demonstration and diffusion initiative led by the Ministry of Science and ICT. The total business scale amounts to approximately 2.4 billion won, and the development and demonstration period will run from July 2026 to December 2027.

The core of this project is to develop a mobile dual-arm robot equipped with a domestic neural processing unit (NPU) featuring domestic vision, language, and action (VLA) models. The goal is to realize Physical AI, whereby a robot utilizes cameras and other sensors to recognize targets and its surroundings, judges the task to be performed, and then controls its dual arms and mobile platform to execute the intended work.

While existing industrial robots focus on repetitive, pre-programmed actions, the new robot being developed stands out for its ability to autonomously judge and act in response to changes in the work environment. It is being designed to autonomously handle a wide range of tasks—such as picking, sorting, and transporting—in manufacturing and logistics settings.

In particular, Naurobotics is building the robot’s AI computation domain—its “brain”—with entirely domestic technology. By applying VLA models to domestically developed NPUs, the robot will be able to understand both visual and linguistic information and translate them into real-world robotic actions. With this, the goal is to realize a Physical AI system capable of independently identifying the location and status of an object and determining the necessary tasks autonomously.

The mobile dual-arm robot developed by Naurobotics is an industrial humanoid that prioritizes usability and productivity in industrial environments over simply mimicking human appearance. By combining a mobile platform with dual-arm robots, Naurobotics aims to enable handling of various tasks beyond the capabilities of conventional automated equipment.

The company intends to leverage this demonstration project as a key turning point linking its current industrial robot business with its humanoid robot business. Naurobotics has accumulated expertise in mechanical design, control software, and manufacturing/automation system integration for industrial robots. More recently, it has also focused on key humanoid robot components, such as reducers and actuators.

By integrating AI-based perception and decision-making technologies, Naurobotics plans to strengthen its Physical AI capabilities encompassing robot hardware, control software, and AI. The company’s strategy is not only to develop robots, but also to build solutions that can be practically deployed in real industrial sites, thereby accelerating commercialization potential.

It is also noteworthy that this project will involve validation in actual operating environments. By December 2027, Naurobotics plans to verify the robot’s work performance, stability, and usability in authentic manufacturing and logistics settings. The company intends to leverage the results as references for its industrial humanoid business and to broaden its portfolio of target industries and clients.

Physical AI refers to technologies where AI not only processes information in digital realms, but also recognizes the physical world and takes direct action. Robots are considered a prime application area for Physical AI. Amidst growing labor shortages in manufacturing and logistics sectors and rising demand to automate not just repetitive but also judgment-based tasks, the industrial humanoid market is expected to see increasing growth potential.

The government is also promoting demonstration projects across various fields—including Physical AI—to boost the adoption of domestic AI semiconductors and models in real industrial settings. If Naurobotics secures proven cases that combine domestic NPUs, AI models, and robot platforms through this project, these can be leveraged for future government and private sector contracts.

A Naurobotics representative stated, “This project is highly significant because it integrates domestic NPUs and domestic VLA models with the industrial humanoids that Naurobotics has developed, enabling implementation and verification of Physical AI technology in the field. Based on our accumulated technology and on-site experience in industrial robots and automation, we will accelerate the commercialization of industrial humanoids that can be practically used in industrial settings.”

The representative added, “The industrial humanoid robot targeted by Naurobotics is not simply a robot that mimics the human form, but one that can autonomously recognize, judge, and perform various tasks handled by humans in manufacturing and logistics environments. By combining domestic AI semiconductors, AI models, and robot technologies, we aim to strengthen the competitiveness of the domestic Physical AI ecosystem and expand our application to both domestic and global industrial sites going forward.”

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