South Korea opened a facility for producing humanoid-robot training data on November 3, starting with 12 robots at the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials in Daejeon. KIMM developed the AI Humanoid Data Factory with the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute.
According to the research council’s announcement, human operators guide robots through tasks while their movements and interactions are recorded. The data is used to train AI models, which are then tested on physical robots. Those tests generate further material for training.
Demonstrations at the opening included taking items from a refrigerator, handling laundry and operating vehicle controls. These were data-collection exercises involving remote operation, rather than evidence that the robots could already perform every task independently.
Aju Press reported that the facility occupies about 1,000 square metres and plans to expand to 25 robots. KIMM intends to allow companies, universities and research institutes to use it in stages from late 2027.
Archive illustration: KAIST’s HUBO robot at the DARPA Robotics Challenge in California, June 2015; not KIMM’s new facility or KAIROS robot. Photo: 150605-N-PO203-837 by John F. Williams / U.S. Navy, Office of Naval Research, CC BY 2.0. Source rendition; display may be resized or cropped.
