UNICHEM to Recruit U.S. Robot-Tactile Experts as It Accelerates Physical AI Venture

[Financial News] Automotive leather specialist UNICHEM has drawn attention by identifying robot skin as its next growth driver and moving to recruit experts in the field. The company is bringing a Stanford University expert in robotic tactile sensing onto its board and adding electronic skin (e-skin) and tactile sensors to its stated business purposes. The move is viewed as an effort to expand its existing leather and automotive interior materials businesses into smart outer skin for the era of Physical AI.
According to electronic disclosures from the Financial Supervisory Service and other sources on the 22nd, UNICHEM will hold an extraordinary shareholders' meeting on October 22. It will submit proposals to appoint Monroe D. Kennedy III, a professor at Stanford University, and Elaine Chen, head of the Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts University, as independent directors.
Professor Kennedy leads Stanford University's Assistive Robotics and Manipulation (ARM) Lab, where he researches robotic tactile sensing, dexterous manipulation, and humanoid technology. Chen has also worked on product development and other areas at SensAble Technologies, a haptic and tactile-interface company, and Rethink Robotics, a robotics company. Both candidates have expertise directly related to the robotic tactile technology UNICHEM has identified as a new business.
UNICHEM is also revising its articles of association to reflect its new businesses. It plans to add electronic skin and outer coverings for humanoid and Physical AI-based robots; tactile, pressure, and shear-force sensors and haptic interfaces; smart leather, electronic textiles, and flexible-electronics composite materials; and tactile data-collection devices and software for robot training to its stated business purposes.
Industry observers say this is different in nature from simply adding "robotics" to a company's stated business purposes. By combining UNICHEM's existing leather-processing technology with sensors and flexible electronics, the company could expand into smart outer skin for robots that detects contact and pressure like human skin.
UNICHEM's pursuit of an acquisition of Loomia Technologies, a U.S.-based deep-tech company specializing in flexible electronics, is part of the same strategy. The company is seeking to acquire a 100% stake in Loomia and combine its technology with UNICHEM's materials manufacturing, processing, and mass-production infrastructure.
Ultimately, the plan is to combine Loomia's flexible-electronics technology with UNICHEM's materials and mass-production capabilities, then add the robotics and tactile expertise of Professor Kennedy and Chen. In effect, the leather company has begun assembling the pieces needed to broaden its business into a "robot skin" company.
As competition in humanoids expands from AI brains to physical interfaces such as hands and skin, the importance of tactile sensors and related data is also growing," an IB industry official said. "For UNICHEM, the key question is whether it can connect its existing materials and processing capabilities to actual mass production and orders for e-skin.
[email protected] Kim Kyung-ah Reporter