[산업이지] “Welcome Human” Baking bread and celebrating a goal… Who the hell are you?

Visit ‘2024 Robo World’, Korea’s largest robot industry exhibition

Over 290 companies and institutions… ‘Humanoid robot’, a hot topic with AI

At ‘2024 Robo World’, Korea’s largest robot industry exhibition, which opened on the 23rd, robot companies in various fields, including humanoid robots, industrial robots, autonomous driving and logistics robots, participated and introduced their products. Reporter Jinju Lee

“I work in the automobile assembly department. When I come to work, the first thing I do is make coffee for my colleagues. My hobby is soccer, and when the ball goes into the goal, I show my own celebration. “After work, I fry bread in a frying pan for my family and open the bottle cap for them when they bring in the drink they want.”

Who are you talking about? This is the daily life of a humanoid (humanoid) robot imagined by combining currently available technologies.

Humanoid robot technology, which is developing day by day, is a hot topic amid the artificial intelligence (AI) craze that is spreading around the world. Humanoid robots are composed of a head, torso, limbs, etc. and have an appearance similar to a human, so unlike industrial robots or collaborative robots, people are very interested in them. Robotics researchers say that humanoid robots, which we have only seen through science fiction movies, will soon be available in our daily lives.

So how far has domestic robot technology developed? I went to ‘2024 Robo World’, which opened at KINTEX in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do on the 23rd. RoboWorld is Korea’s largest robot industry exhibition, and this year, over 290 companies and organizations participated, showcasing various robot technologies at 880 booths. At this exhibition, we were able to meet robots from various fields, including humanoid robots, companion robots, industrial robots, and autonomous driving and logistics robots.

<img width="700" src="https://img.khan.co.kr/news/2024/10/27/news-p.v1.20241025.98e876c90ea149bfa03b0cd2ed6b996a_P1.png" alt="Alice, a humanoid robot developed by A Robot, is putting ordered candy in a paper cup and placing it on a tray held by Amy, another robot. Reporter Jinju Lee”/>

Alice, a humanoid robot developed by A Robot, is putting ordered candy in a paper cup and placing it on a tray held by Amy, another robot. Reporter Jinju Lee

The topic of Robo World this year was intelligent robots incorporating AI. Among them, the booth of a bipedal humanoid robot company was a hot topic with a constant flow of visitors.

At the booth of A-Robot, a company specializing in humanoid robots, you could see a humanoid robot with a red body reminiscent of a Taegeuk warrior carefully adjusting its angle in front of the soccer goalpost. This robot is ‘Alice’, a bipedal humanoid robot developed by A Robot. When the ball kicked with his left foot went into the goal, Ellis performed a goal celebration by raising one arm above his head and lowering it, drawing gasps from the audience.

In the space right next to it, another Alice put the blue candy ordered by the visitor in a paper cup and placed the paper cup on the tray held by ‘Amy’, also known as the welcome robot. Unlike Alice, who walks on two legs, Amy, who moves on wheels, moved the paper cups placed on the tray smoothly without shaking them and delivered them to the visitors. A Robot is said to have created a store run only by future robots through a demonstration in which different types of robots provide services through communication and collaboration.

<img width="700" src="https://img.khan.co.kr/news/2024/10/27/news-p.v1.20241025.cae00ffeb2be472291ea174d10c7d35c_P1.jpg" alt="Chinese robotics company Unitree Robotics‘ humanoid robot ‘G1’ and quadrupedal robot. Reporter Jinju Lee”/>

Chinese robotics company Unitree Robotics’ humanoid robot ‘G1’ and quadrupedal robot. Reporter Jinju Lee

Park Cheon-yu, ARobot SW engineer, said, “Looking at the increase in technology, there will soon be a big change in our lives with humanoid robots that live with and help people,” adding, “We are currently improving technology with the goal of commercializing Alice by 2027 to 2029.” “We are accelerating for this,” he said.

We were also able to meet the humanoid robot ‘G1’ from Chinese robotics company Unitree Robotics, an overseas participating company. Unitree Robotics, well-known for its quadrupedal walking robots, made headlines last May by launching the G1, which can be used both at production sites and at home.

G1 is said to be an upgraded version of the humanoid robot ‘H1’ that Unite Robotics first introduced last year. On this day, G1 received applause by showing actions such as sitting and standing up, waving their arms and saying hello, and walking with strides among the visitors. On the Unitree Robotics website, you can see G1 swinging a club, cracking walnuts, and cooking with a frying pan.

Evolution of industrial and collaborative robots with dual arm and finger joints

‘Torso’, a two-armed robot introduced by Neuromeca for the first time at this exhibition. Reporter Jinju Lee

At this exhibition, we were able to see the future of articulated robots that are actively used in industrial fields.

Neuromeca, a robot automation solution specialist, introduced the two-armed robot ‘Torso’. Torso is expected to increase productivity by using both arms to perform movements that existing industrial robots or collaborative robots could not perform with one arm. A Newmeroka official said, “The torso can be assembled by moving both arms or held with both hands. “In the future, industrial robots and collaborative robots will also evolve closer to humanoids,” he predicted.

At one booth, a demonstration was also held where a person wearing a data glove moved a paper cup by moving his or her hand instead of a robot arm. Humanoid robots, industrial robots, and collaborative robots use different grippers (robot hands) attached to the end of the robot arm depending on the intended use. Tesolo is a company that focuses on gripper and robot automation solution business, and this time, it unveiled a new robot hand product, ‘Delto Gripper 5 Fingers’ for the first time.

This robot hand is made up of four joints per finger, and by combining vision AI, it is said to be able to adjust the shape and strength of the hand depending on the location and shape of the object you are trying to grasp. It is expected that more detailed work will be possible when applied to humanoid robots as well as collaborative robots.

An official from Tesolo, a company specializing in robot grippers, is moving a paper cup by remotely controlling a new robot hand product, ‘Delto Gripper 5 Finger (DG-5F)’, at the ‘2024 Robo World’ held at the first exhibition hall of KINTEX in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do on the 23rd. Reporter Jinju Lee

Brills, which expanded its business from a robot solution specialist to robot manufacturing, exhibited the first explosion-proof collaborative robot in Korea. Explosion-proof collaborative robots are said to operate stably even in places where chemical materials are handled, protecting workers from flammability and explosiveness. Brills plans to introduce special welding robots and logistics robots in the future.

In addition, Robotis has completed a completely unmanned delivery system by linking the self-driving robot ‘Ant’ that operates indoors and outdoors, and Inti, a robotics platform specialist, has introduced a customer service robot that communicates with customers and helps checkout through the Large Language Model (LLM). While looking around Grit’s booth, I was able to experience AI robots that have become part of our daily lives.

Many robot developers and officials I met at the Robo World exhibition unanimously said, “The destination for all robots currently being developed is humanoid,” but they said there is a long way to go. As it takes a lot of cost and effort to develop and commercialize robots, government support and interest are needed to compete with overseas companies.