Aidin Robotics Secures 16 Billion Won Investment from HD Hyundai Robotics and Samsung Venture Investment

The industry identifies the technology to recognize the force at the moment a robot contacts an object and self-regulate as a key challenge for humanoid robots and Physical AI to move beyond the demonstration stage and enter industrial sites. The industry is transitioning to a phase where robot competitiveness is determined by contact control capabilities rather than motion precision, and it is assessed that only a handful of companies, both domestically and internationally, possess both force and tactile sensing capabilities as well as the force control technology to interpret them.

Aidin Robotics is a company that has already brought this field to the commercialization stage. It designs and manufactures capacitive force and torque sensors as well as tactile sensors in-house, supplying them to domestic and international humanoid and collaborative robot companies. Additionally, it supplies surface processing automation solutions combining sensors and force control technology to manufacturing sites in the defense, semiconductor equipment parts, and automotive industries. The biggest differentiator that sets it apart from competitors limited to supplying individual components is that it possesses robot sensory intelligence technology that encompasses both hardware (sensors) and software (force control technology).

Aidin Robotics was co-founded in 2019 by Professor Choi Hyouk-ryeol of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University, a leading domestic authority in robot force, tactile sensing, and interaction technology, and his student, CEO Johann Kerbrat. The capacitive method chosen by the company is considered the most suitable for humanoids, which require multiple sensors at each joint, as it offers advantages in miniaturization and cost reduction while ensuring high resolution.

In the 2024 Series B round, the company attracted investment from major domestic and international strategic and financial investors, including Samsung Next, POSCO Investment, CJ Logistics, Korea Investment Partners, GS Ventures, KOLON INVESTMENT, INC., DSC Investment Inc., BNK Venture Investment, and FuturePlay, and was selected for Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.'s external startup incubation program, C-Lab Outside, in 2025. With the addition of HD Hyundai Robotics and Samsung Venture Investment in this round, a structure has been completed in which key domestic manufacturing conglomerates—ranging from shipbuilding and heavy industry to semiconductors, logistics, materials, and chemicals—are business partners and shareholders.

With this investment, Aidin Robotics is expanding its surface processing robot automation business into the shipbuilding industry. The company plans to jointly develop and apply surface treatment robot automation solutions for the shipbuilding and heavy industries with HD Hyundai Robotics, and subsequently expand its business scope to the domestic manufacturing sector as well as overseas markets, including the U.S. shipbuilding industry.

Furthermore, the two companies will jointly develop a heavy-duty 5-finger robot hand specialized for the shipbuilding and heavy industry sectors to be mounted on the humanoid robot currently under development by HD Hyundai Robotics. Aidin Robotics will secure a world-class shipbuilding production site as a testing ground, and plans to utilize the force control data and operational know-how accumulated there for the development of the robot hand for the humanoid. In addition, the company plans to expand its robot component business by investing in the establishment of mass production facilities and quality verification systems for force and torque sensors, as well as the expansion of its R&D workforce, with the goal of securing a production system capable of producing 30,000 units annually.