□ A new data production hub designed to teach humanoid robots how to work has opened in Korea. The newly established “AI Humanoid Data Factory” collects data generated as robots perform real-world tasks, such as picking up and moving objects, and uses it to train artificial intelligence (AI) models. The facility was officially unveiled at an opening ceremony on November 3.
□ The Global TOP Strategic Research Group for Self-Growing AI Humanoids, led by the
Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM; President Seog-Hyeon Ryu) under the direction of Dr. Chan Hun Park, has established the AI Humanoid Data Factory at KIMM in collaboration with the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI; President Se woong Park). As Korea’s first dedicated data production facility for bipedal humanoid robots, the facility is capable of collecting a wide range of data, from arm and leg movements to full-body tasks.
□ The Data Factory currently operates 12 humanoid robots. Human operators remotely control the robots as they perform various tasks, while the robots’ movements and task-related information are recorded and used for AI training. KIMM plans to gradually expand both the number of robots and the range of tasks used for data collection.
□ The collected data is used to train AI models so that robots can understand human instructions and their surroundings and eventually perform tasks autonomously. The trained AI is then deployed on physical robots to evaluate its performance, and newly generated data from this process is fed back into subsequent rounds of training. Through this iterative process, KIMM aims to improve the performance of AI models that can be applied across different robot platforms, as well as the K-Humanoid standard platform.
□ At the opening ceremony on November 3, multiple humanoid robots demonstrated the collection of data from everyday tasks such as taking items out of a refrigerator, handling laundry, and arranging a sofa, as well as industrial tasks such as operating buttons and levers inside a vehicle. The ceremony also featured demonstrations of KAIROS, a Korean-developed humanoid robot, performing precise object manipulation and full-body motion imitation.
□ The establishment of the Data Factory provides Korea with the infrastructure needed to directly produce and accumulate large-scale humanoid task data. It is expected to reduce reliance on overseas data and AI models and accelerate Korea’s technological self-reliance in humanoid AI. KIMM plans to gradually open the Data Factory to domestic industry, academia, and research institutions beginning at the end of 2027.
□ “Securing large volumes of high-quality robot task data is essential to national technological competitiveness, and the establishment of this Data Factory marks an important starting point for building Korea’s own robot AI training data and technological assets,” said Seog-Hyeon Ryu, President of KIMM. “Through industry-academia-research collaboration, we will accelerate the development of Korea’s KAIROS humanoid robot and gradually open the Data Factory beginning at the end of 2027, thereby contributing to the competitiveness of Korea’s physical AI industry.”
□ The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT), which supports this initiative, plans to continue bringing together Korea’s research capabilities in connection with the K-Moonshot AI Humanoid Mission, with the goal of securing independent AI humanoid technologies and strengthening the competitiveness of the domestic industry.
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Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) is a non-profit government-funded research institute under the Ministry of Science and ICT. Since its foundation in 1976, KIMM is contributing to economic growth of the nation by performing R&D on key technologies in machinery and materials, conducting reliability test evaluation, and commercializing the developed products and technologies.