KAIST to Host ‘Physical AI Korea 2026,’ Unveil Vision for Future Industries

[Financial News] KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) will announce a vision to expand physical AI into a technology used across diverse industries and in everyday life, and develop it into a future industry for South Korea.
KAIST said on the 11th that it will hold ‘Physical AI KOREA 2026’ at the KI Building on its main campus in Daejeon on the 13th. The event will feature presentations on physical AI platform technologies that can be applied not only in manufacturing but also in healthcare, defense, logistics and everyday life, as well as research, education and startup strategies that a wide range of companies can use.
KAIST President Choongsik Bae said, “Building on solid fundamentals, KAIST will develop the foundational technologies needed for perception and movement, and for cooperation among multiple machines, so they can be used across a variety of robots and industries. We will also cultivate the talent and companies to lead this effort.”
President Bae will take the stage on the day of the event wearing a wearable robot developed by Professor Gong Kyung-cheol’s research team. He will demonstrate an application of physical AI that goes beyond helping people move: the technology analyzes health information based on data from the wearer’s movements and provides the results. The wearable robots developed by Professor Gong’s team have been studied mainly as a technology to support rehabilitation and help people with disabilities walk.
The event will open with a video tracing the development of KAIST’s robotics research, followed by an overview of global trends in physical AI technology. Starting at 1:30 p.m., there will be presentations on platform technologies and demonstrations of humanoids, robot pilots and more. The event will then examine the challenges of commercializing physical AI and KAIST’s role. At 2:15 p.m., President Bae is scheduled to announce a vision for building South Korea’s physical AI industry ecosystem. A joint Q&A with the presenters and media interviews will also be held.
This event will present KAIST’s answer to the question, “What technologies are needed across different robots and industries?”—going beyond “What kind of robot should we build?” KAIST plans to bring together its accumulated research expertise in robotics, artificial intelligence, sensors, actuators and data to outline the technological framework for physical AI and the areas it will focus on in the future. Rather than concentrating its capabilities on perfecting a single robot, KAIST also plans to secure platform technologies that can be used across multiple robots and industries.
Five research teams from KAIST’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and School of Electrical Engineering will also take part in the event. The team led by Professor Hae-won Park of the Department of Mechanical Engineering will introduce a humanoid robot capable of carrying items weighing 15 kg or more. The team led by Professor Hyun-Chul Shim of the School of Electrical Engineering will demonstrate PIBOT, a humanoid pilot robot under development to operate cockpit controls and carry out piloting missions based on flight information.
The team led by Professor Hyun Myung of the School of Electrical Engineering will then introduce autonomous navigation technology that uses cameras, lidar and other tools to recognize unfamiliar spaces and determine its location and route. The team led by Professor Hyun-min Bae in the same school will showcase technology that combines motors, sensors and control systems to move robots with precision.
KAIST plans to hold ‘Physical AI KOREA’ on an ongoing basis to share technology development achievements and remaining challenges, and to develop the event into a forum for collaboration between researchers and companies. Anyone interested can attend this event on a first-come, first-served basis. Advance registration is available through the online application page until noon on the 12th.

[email protected] Yeon Ji-an Reporter