[Edaily Reporter Lee Hye-ra] #NeuroMeca announced on the 12th that it received the "Grand Prize," the highest honor at "WFT ConfEx," in recognition of its technological innovations and industrial achievements in the field of food automation. The company was highly praised for its capabilities in building a Physical AI robot ecosystem—expanding from collaborative robots to humanoids—along with its field-proven references in cooking automation.

WFT ConfEx is a global event that highlights innovative technologies and companies set to lead the future food industry, including food, dining, food tech, artificial intelligence (AI), and robotics. It serves as a platform where experts from domestic and international industry and academia gather to share the latest technologies and market trends.
Winning the top award is significant as it represents external recognition of NeuroMeka’s competitive edge in robot platform technology.
At the event, Park Jong-hoon, CEO of NeuroMeca, also delivered a keynote speech. In his presentation titled “The Harsh Reality of Food Tech Automation in South Korea and the Next Decade,” CEO Park analyzed success and failure cases in the global food tech industry and presented a vision for next-generation AI-based automation as the direction the food automation industry should take.
Citing examples of leading U.S. food tech companies, CEO Park noted, “While they succeeded in developing innovative technologies and attracting large-scale investments, their common limitation was their failure to simultaneously secure the three essentials of the food industry: taste, operations, and profitability.” He continued, “The food tech industry must evolve into ‘Food & Tech,’ where technology supports food and customer experience, rather than being a mere technological competition centered on robots making food.” He emphasized, “A sustainable business model can only be created when technology is utilized to enhance the human experience, rather than taking center stage.”
CEO Park identified ‘Physical AI’ as the core technology for next-generation food automation. He explained, “While existing automation involved designing separate equipment for each menu and process, future robots will learn human cooking methods and recipes to perform a variety of tasks,” adding, “We will move toward a model where robots adapt to human spaces and work environments, rather than humans adapting to robots.”
Based on the technology and on-site operational data accumulated in the collaborative robot sector, NeuroMeka is pursuing a phased expansion strategy that starts with the partial automation of simple, repetitive tasks, moves toward Physical AI-based intelligent robots, and ultimately leads to humanoids. The company explained that its approach—solving practical operational challenges in food automation centered on collaborative robot technology—is what sets it apart from the first generation.
CEO Park stated, “The future of the food industry lies not in the technology itself, but in using technology to enhance customer experience and operational efficiency,” adding, “Neuromeca will grow into a next-generation physical AI robot platform company based on data accumulated in the field and AI technology.”