[IT Cafe] Why Robotis CEO Byungsoo Kim Is Busier Than Ever These Days

First Delivery to OpenAI Draws Industry Attention
A 'Robot Enthusiast' with 30 Years of Passion
From Core Components to Humanoids

"Our core personnel devoted themselves day and night solely to developing the semi-humanoid robot 'AI Walker,' completing it in just four to five weeks. We were able to achieve this in such a short time because we poured all the technology and capabilities that Robotis has accumulated so far into the project, driven by the conviction that 'there is no other way.'"

Byungsoo Kim, CEO of Robotis

With Robotis's AI Walker recently making its first delivery to OpenAI, CEO Byungsoo Kim is busier than ever. Although the initial shipment of AI Walker for research and development purposes is still small in quantity, the possibility of additional orders is raising expectations. Since founding Robotis in 1999, Kim has consistently advocated for "freedom from labor," and last month, he officially launched the AI Walker, a culmination of over 20 years of experience and expertise.

The AI Walker is a semi-humanoid robot equipped with two arms for work tasks, capable of mimicking and learning skilled human operations to perform even highly delicate and complex tasks. CEO Kim personally led the development of the AI Walker. Currently, there are order requests from more than 40 domestic and international organizations, and the goal is to sell 1,000 units by 2027.

Kim is well-known in the industry as a 'robot enthusiast.' Born in 1969, he graduated from Korea University with a degree in electrical engineering and was deeply involved in robot clubs during his school years. In the late 1990s, he swept domestic and international robot competitions, including the Robot World Cup Soccer Tournament. His passion for robots remains unchanged. One wall of his office at the company's headquarters in Magok-dong, Seoul, is lined with over 100 robots of various sizes from around the world. Whenever he travels abroad, he buys a robot as a souvenir, and he is such an avid collector that he even gifts robot figures purchased from the Taekwon V Museum in Korea to his employees.

The working semi-humanoid robot 'AI Walker' developed by Robotis in operation. Robotis YouTube

In the early days of the company, Robotis pursued the philosophy of "creating robots filled with dreams," developing robot toys and service robots for children. The company reached a turning point in 2003 when it released its own robot-specific actuator, developed with in-house technology. The actuator is a core component that functions as the robot's joint. A humanoid robot that mimics the shape of a human hand uses as many as 80 to 90 actuators. By assigning a unique ID to each joint, the actuators are compatible with various products and highly scalable, attracting interest from overseas markets. In the first half of this year, Robotis recorded sales of 18.1 billion won, with actuators accounting for 98% of the revenue, making them the company's main source of income.

With the rise of the physical AI boom, Robotis is drawing industry attention. In the first and second quarters of this year, Robotis returned to profitability in both operating profit and net income for the first time in three years. The company's stock price recently surpassed 100,000 won during trading hours, marking a more than fivefold increase compared to a year ago. CEO Kim is now gearing up to enter the global robotics market in earnest, leveraging Robotis's proprietary technology and partnerships with major shareholders such as LG Electronics. The company also plans to promote the popularization of robots so that even users without robot operation experience can utilize them for research or in daily life.