Hurim Robot Appoints Lee Jong-jin, Former Samsung Electronics Executive, as Inside Director... "Expanding Robot Business"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] Hurim Robot announced on the 31st that it has newly appointed Lee Jongjin, a former Samsung Electronics executive, as an inside director through its regular general shareholders' meeting. Lee Jongjin, the newly appointed inside director, is recognized as a figure with profound knowledge and vision in future technologies in the electrical and electronics fields, having worked for a long time at Samsung's Future Strategy Office and Samsung Electronics.

Inside director Lee Jongjin said, “With interest in the robotics industry higher than ever, I feel a heavy responsibility being appointed as an inside director of Hurim Robot, the first publicly listed robotics company in Korea,” and added, “I will contribute to adding business value to Hurim Robot's technological capabilities in line with market expansion.”

Recently, domestic conglomerates have set the robotics business as a future growth engine and are strengthening investments. At Samsung Electronics' regular general shareholders' meeting, robotics and metaverse (extended virtual world) were officially designated as future businesses. In particular, they emphasized reviewing commercialization in various robotics areas to enable future generations to experience 'Life Companion' (living together with life).

LG Electronics also approved amendments to its articles of incorporation at its recent shareholders' meeting to add robotics and automotive electronics as new businesses. Through this, they plan to enhance competitiveness for future growth in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI) and digital transformation (DX).

Additionally, Hyundai Motor Company demonstrated its commitment to the robotics business by introducing the service robot 'DAL-e' at its regular shareholders' meeting. DAL-e is Hyundai's self-developed service robot equipped with facial recognition, natural language conversation technology, and autonomous mobility technology. Moreover, Boston Dynamics, a robot company acquired last year, recently attracted market attention by selling exploration robots to the New York Fire Department in the United States.

Hurim Robot introduced the personal service robot ‘Temi’ in Korea in 2019. Since then, it has provided various services including ▲unmanned quarantine care robots for COVID-19 response ▲non-face-to-face exhibition viewing robots utilizing telepresence functions ▲MICE robots for exhibition guidance ▲AI home butler robots.

Besides Temi, Hurim Robot developed the AI logistics robot ‘TETRA DS5’ and currently plans to diversify related models. Also, Hurim Robot completed the development of a smart firefighting robot in January last year and is currently conducting supplementary work to enhance the completeness of the firefighting robot.

A Hurim Robot official said, “With the news of large companies like Samsung and LG entering the robotics business, interest in robots is higher than ever. We are pleased to have recruited related experts and announced good performance at the shareholders' meeting,” adding, “After securing a stable management foundation, we plan to continue corporate growth with a more proactive approach through the appointment of Lee Jongjin, a former Samsung Electronics executive, as an inside director.”

Meanwhile, at this regular shareholders' meeting of Hurim Robot, all six agenda items, including approval of the 23rd fiscal year financial statements, partial amendments to the articles of incorporation, reappointment of inside directors, appointment of new inside and outside directors, and appointment of a full-time auditor, were passed as originally proposed. Hurim Robot achieved sales of 26.56 billion KRW and operating profit of 570 million KRW based on separate financial statements last year, successfully returning to operating profit after four years since recording an operating loss in 2018, thus escaping the risk of being designated as a management target.