[E-Daily Reporter Shin Yeong-bin ] ROBOTIS’ humanoid hardware platform, “AI Worker,” garnered attention as the standard platform for major research teams at Korea’s first humanoid robot challenge. It is said to have proven its hardware stability, as seven out of the 12 teams that advanced to the finals—including the Seoul National University team that won the Daesang—adopted AI Worker.

ROBOTIS(108490)Robotis announced on the 6th that the Seoul National University ROBI team, which utilized its “AI Worker” humanoid platform, won the Daesang at the “2026 Humanoid Robot Challenge,” the first such event hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The competition was organized to verify the ability of humanoid robots to perform actual tasks in manufacturing and logistics environments. Participating robots performed missions simulating real production processes—such as part sorting, transport, assembly, and wheel installation—going beyond simple walking. Their performance was comprehensively evaluated based on task accuracy, speed, and stability.

The Seoul National University ROBI team, using the AI Worker, drew the judges’ attention by scoring perfect marks from the very first round. They won the Daesang by demonstrating smooth and precise performance across all events. The RL Lab at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), which also utilized the same ROBOTIS platform, received an Encouragement Award.

The ROBOTIS platform’s prominence in this competition was evident not only in the award results but also in its adoption rate. Of the 12 teams that advanced to the finals, seven chose the AI Worker as their research platform. Each team competed by applying its own artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms and control technologies to the same hardware.

The hardware stability of the AI Worker also drew attention at the event. It was noted that while various other robots struggled with hardware failures, the AI Worker maintained relatively stable performance. ROBOTIS explained that its platform enabled participating teams to focus on developing AI algorithms and control technologies rather than dealing with hardware issues.

Industry observers view the results of this competition as evidence that the ROBOTIS AI Walker has the potential to establish itself as a universal platform within South Korea’s humanoid R&D ecosystem. They note that by allowing research teams from various universities to experiment with their own reinforcement learning algorithms and control technologies based on the same hardware platform, the competition demonstrated the potential of a software-centric robot development ecosystem.

A ROBOTIS official stated, “It is meaningful that Korea’s top-tier researchers have achieved outstanding results using the AI Worker,” adding, “In the humanoid industry, it is crucial to foster an ecosystem where diverse AI and software technologies are developed based on an excellent hardware platform.”

The spokesperson continued, “Moving forward, we will go beyond being a mere supplier of robot components and support the expansion of domestic and international R&D ecosystems as a specialized company offering an open humanoid platform that research institutions and industries worldwide can freely utilize.”