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Photo courtesy of Yonhap News |
[Alpha Biz= Kim Jisun] SEOUL, Oct. 16 — Naver Corp. announced that it will introduce small humanoid robots co-developed with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at its headquarters building, 1784, by the end of this year. The robots will operate alongside Naver’s existing indoor delivery robot, “Rookie,” handling in-house logistics tasks such as delivering lunch boxes and coffee as part of live service testing.
During a presentation at the Digital Insight Forum held at Josun Palace Seoul Gangnam on Wednesday morning, Seok Sang-ok, CEO of Naver Labs, said:
“Since 2019, we have been working with MIT through an industry-academic collaboration to create compact humanoid robots. The actual units have now been produced, and they will begin operating inside the 1784 building by the end of this year.”
The humanoid robot was jointly developed by MIT, KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), and Naver Labs. MIT was responsible for the hardware and basic control systems, while the KAIST research team developed the control algorithms.
Seok added,
“We are currently redesigning the exterior to improve aesthetics, and starting next year, the humanoids will provide real-world delivery services—carrying lunch boxes and coffee together with Rookie.”
The humanoid will be powered by Naver’s AI Robot Cloud (ARC) and its web-based robot operating system, ARC Mind. Seok explained:
“ARC is essentially a concept where the robot’s brain resides in the cloud. Using a private 5G network, the robot connects to cloud intelligence with ultra-low latency. Even small robots equipped only with cameras, motors, and 5G modules can leverage the cloud as their brain.”
Naver plans to officially unveil the humanoid robot next month during its annual developer conference, “DAN 25,” scheduled for November 6–7.
Alphabiz Reporter Kim Jisun(stockmk2020@alphabiz.co.kr)
