The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology has developed a shipbuilding-specific robot capable of freely climbing walls and ceilings to perform key tasks such as welding, set to be supplied to Samsung Heavy Industries’ shipyard next year. This initiative aligns with the government’s focus on physical AI, a key area for Korea’s achieving of AI G3 status.

KAIST announced on Sept. 30 that DIDEN Robotics, a startup founded by Prof. Park Hae-won’s Humanoid Robot Research Center (HUBO Lab) team from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, has signed a sales contract with Samsung Heavy Industries for DIDEN 3.0. The product will be supplied to shipbuilding sites for welding, inspection, and painting in the latter half of next year. DIDEN 3.0 is a quadruped robot combining autonomous navigation with magnetic feet, designed for deployment in high-risk work environments difficult for human access. It is particularly useful in shipbuilding sites characterized by narrow passages, complex structures, and steel walls, according to the research team.

DIDEN 3.0 performs welding operations at Samsung Heavy Industries’ shipbuilding site. (Photo courtesy of KAIST)

KAIST and Samsung Heavy Industries have successfully conducted a “longi overcoming test” in an actual shipbuilding environment, navigating through densely installed steel reinforcements (longis). In a video released by the research team, DIDEN 3.0 was shown crawling spider-like through narrow passages inaccessible to humans, successfully performing welding tasks using a torch mounted on its back. With joints similar to human elbows and knees, it can flexibly change postures. The research team is currently enhancing its capabilities to enable stable passage through narrow access holes in ship interiors.

DIDEN Robotics is collaborating with other major Korean shipyards, including HD Hyundai Samho, Hanwha Ocean, and HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, to develop customized robots for their sites. Kim Jun-ha, CEO of DIDEN Robotics, stated, “Through successful tests at Samsung Heavy Industries’ site, we have proven the practicality and stability of our technology. We aim to establish ourselves as a leading company in addressing labor shortages and promoting automation in the shipbuilding industry.”

DIDEN Robotics is also developing DIDEN Walker, a next-generation bipedal robot, with the prototype completion targeted for the fourth quarter of this year. Like DIDEN 3.0, it focuses on stable walking and working in narrow and complex industrial environments. It plans to incorporate an upper body manipulator for shipbuilding welding automation. The company utilizes its proprietary AI learning platform DIDEN World to generate optimal motion data in virtual simulations, allowing AI to learn without trial and error, employing physical AI technology. They are also advancing vision recognition technology, such as creating 3D maps with four cameras, aiming to develop a fully autonomous walking system without operator intervention by next year.

Another in-house startup, Yurobotics, will unveil new humanoid robot walking technology at the International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids 2025) on Oct. 1. The core technology is a blind walking controller that enables stable walking without directly perceiving surrounding terrain through external sensors like cameras or LiDAR, unlike existing robots. In simple terms, the robot imagines the external environment using internal data. The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) is also collaborating with LG AI Research and LG Electronics to unveil K-FLEX, a physical AI humanoid robot based on the Exaone AI model, in November.

A concept image of K-FLEX (Photo courtesy of KIST)

Source:Business Korea