NovaTech, an industrial robot integrated control software corporations, said on the 14th that it raised a cumulative 7 billion won in investment from Hyundai Motor Group Zero One, Hyundai Motor Securities Mobility Fund, and Quantum Ventures Korea, among others.
NovaTech has built and is operating a system that integrates and controls 12 types and more than 300 heterogeneous logistics robots on a single platform at the Georgia Metaplant (HMGMA), Hyundai Motor Group's North American electric vehicle production base. The approach operates unmanned guided vehicles (AGVs), autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), and unmanned forklifts from different manufacturers together with workers and equipment.
Earlier, at the Hyundai Motor Group Singapore Global Innovation Center (HMGICS), it also built a system to integrate and control more than 150 logistics robots. In a plant that produces vehicles by cell units without conveyor belts, it linked the upper manufacturing execution system (MES) and warehouse control system (WCS) with the lower programmable logic controller (PLC).
NovaTech plans to invest the new funding in advancing its self-developed physical artificial intelligence (AI) platform "PiPER" and entering the North American logistics market. PiPER is a robot orchestration platform that integrates and controls unmanned guided vehicles (AGVs), autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), unmanned forklifts, and humanoids from different manufacturers and of different types in a single system.
NovaTech said it applies Digital Twin technology to PiPER to run more than 1 million simulations in a virtual space before system deployment and calculate the required number of robots and their placement. The company said its Sim-to-Real technology, which applies models learned in a virtual environment to real robots, can reduce robot deployment time by up to 80% compared with previous methods.
NovaTech plans to expand its business around major North American logistics hubs such as Los Angeles (LA), Chicago, Dallas, and Atlanta. It will target local logistics centers and the third-party logistics (3PL) market by using a monthly subscription robots-as-a-service (RaaS) model that lowers initial investment burdens. It is currently discussing pilot projects and deployments with about 10 clients in California, Illinois, and Georgia.
In Korea, it is expanding its manufacturing logistics automation business with a focus on Hyundai Motor Group partners. NovaTech said the size of projects it has been pursuing for orders at home and abroad from last year to this year is about 64 billion won. It is also discussing additional fundraising with multiple institutional investors. It aims to ramp up its global business in 2028 and reach 280 billion won in revenue in 2035.
Song Dong-seok, CEO of NovaTech, said, "This investment recognizes the technology and trust accumulated in Hyundai Motor Group's future factories," adding, "We will use technology proven on manufacturing floors to target the North American logistics market and grow PiPER into the global robot orchestration standard."